The WNBA Playoffs hit a two-decade high on cable Tuesday night.
The Connecticut Sun-New York Liberty game averaged 563,000 viewers on ESPN Tuesday, good for the most-watched playoff game on cable since 2001.
Tuesday's Game 2 of the 2023 @WNBA Semifinals scored big viewership on ESPN pic.twitter.com/Qm4sYNk68Y
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 28, 2023
In the second half of the doubleheader, the Dallas Wings-Las Vegas Aces game averaged 522,000 viewers, the seventh-most-watched playoff game on cable since 2001.
These are pretty strong numbers for the league, especially since we’re not even at the WNBA Finals quite yet. These playoffs follow a season that saw national viewership for the league increase by 21%, including a 16-year high for the All-Star Game and the league’s most-watched regular season game on cable since 1999. The league also had a strong year in 2022, which was its most-watched on ESPN networks since 2008.
The WNBA Playoffs continue with a doubleheader on Friday, airing on ESPN2 and beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Game 4 of the Liberty-Sun series will at 3 p.m. ET on ABC, and if necessary, Game 4 of the Aces-Wings series will air at 9 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN. If either series goes to a fifth game, it will be shunted over to ESPNU on Tuesday, October 3 due to the Wild Card round of the MLB Playoffs.
The WNBA Finals are scheduled to begin on Sunday, October 8 at 3 p.m. ET on ABC. Games 2, 4, and 5 (if necessary for the latter two) will air on ESPN, with Game 3 airing on ABC,
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.