WNBA viewership on USA Network reached a season high on Tuesday as Caitlin Clark continued to prove herself a viewership draw, even against World Cup competition.
Tuesday night’s Toronto Tempo-Indiana Fever matchup on USA averaged 1.00 million viewers, the most-watched WNBA game on cable this season. It is also up 134% from the WNBA’s 2025 average cable viewership.
Impressively, the WNBA saw a cable season high while facing strong competition from the World Cup. Iraq-Norway, which started an hour earlier on FOX and Telemundo, averaged 5.9 million viewers in English and an additional 4.8 million viewers in Spanish.
Tuesday’s matchup outdrew other WNBA games, going against the World Cup. On Monday night, the Las Vegas Aces-Dallas Wings on USA Network drew 457,000 viewers. Earlier, on Saturday night, the Minnesota Lynx-Aces game on CBS drew 872,000 viewers.
Caitlin Clark has long been an important casual draw for the WNBA. Now in her third full season, she has transitioned from a highly anticipated rookie to an established superstar, yet her ability to attract viewers remains evident.
Even though Clark-featured games blow them out of the water, viewership for other WNBA games competing with the World Cup remains strong. For comparison, the NHL averaged 1.1 million viewers for games on ABC last year and 385,000 viewers for games on TNT.
The WNBA, seeing similar numbers, with competition from the World Cup, is a strong sign for the league. Though it could be even stronger if it could replicate Clark’s casual draw for other players and teams.
About Manny Soloway
Manny Soloway is a Iowa based writer focusing on TV ratings. He is also the founder of the TV Media Blog substack.