The WNBA Finals wrapped up Sunday with the New York Liberty’s thrilling overtime win over the Minnesota Lynx in Game 5.
“28 years in the making! The New York Liberty are WNBA champions! The original franchise has its very first title!” – ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco on the call of the Liberty’s overtime victory over the Lynx in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the WNBA Finals pic.twitter.com/MGytl4gt7Y
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 21, 2024
But as we await viewership figures from the series’ deciding game, Friday’s last-minute win by the Lynx in Game 4 to force a fifth and final game set a 24-year viewership record. It’s the fourth major superlative the WNBA Finals has secured in as many games.
Friday’s Game 4 averaged 1.67 million viewers on ESPN per Sports Media Watch, the most-watched WNBA Finals game since Game 2 of the 2000 Finals between the Liberty and Houston Comets, which averaged 2.12 million viewers on NBC. Viewership for Game 4 increased by 88% compared to last year’s Las Vegas Aces-New York Liberty Game 4, which drew an audience of 889,000 viewers.
To put the WNBA’s season’s success in perspective, despite being the most-watched Finals game since the turn of the century, it was only the 12th most-watched game of the season. Game 4 trailed ten Indiana Fever games featuring phenom guard Caitlin Clark and the WNBA All-Star game featuring Clark.
This season, the league’s strong viewership is a primary factor in the Women’s National Basketball Players Association’s decision to opt out of its current collective bargaining agreement with the league, which was announced Monday.
It’s unlikely that Game 4’s record will stand more than a day. Viewership for Game 5 of the WNBA Finals is expected to be released on Tuesday. And despite facing direct competition with NBC’s Sunday Night Football game between the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers, along with Game 6 of the NLCS between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers on FS1, one could expect the WNBA will once again beat out its record when Game 5 viewership is released.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.