Another bona fide superstar going No. 1 overall in the WNBA Draft led ESPN to another strong rating for the event.
Coming off the success of last season’s draft, when the Indiana Fever selected Caitlin Clark with the first overall pick, Monday’s WNBA Draft, which featured UConn Huskies star Paige Bueckers being selected No. 1 by the Dallas Wings, delivered another seven-figure audience for the league.
Monday’s telecast on ESPN averaged 1.25 million viewers, per ESPN PR. That figure is down 49% versus last year’s Clark-fueled draft broadcast, which averaged a record-setting 2.45 million viewers, but is up 119% versus 2023, which averaged 572,000 viewers on ESPN. Prior to last season, the most-watched WNBA Draft telecast came back in 2004 when 601,000 viewers watched Diana Taurasi be picked first overall.
The 2025 #WNBADraft on ESPN delivered the second most-viewed WNBA Draft ever, averaging 1.25M viewers👏
🏀 1.46M peak
🏀 Most-viewed program across ALL TV among M18-34, M18-49 & P18-34
🏀 Top cable program among M25-54, P18-49 & P25-54 pic.twitter.com/io5HdjpuSF— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 15, 2025
As has been written ad nauseam on this site and others, comparisons to telecasts where Caitlin Clark played a leading role will not look favorable, but comparing them to the non-Clark telecasts of prior years will show a significant increase in the baseline of women’s basketball viewership.
Before last year’s draft, no WNBA telecast since 2008 had cracked the one million viewer threshold. The league cracked that more than two dozen times last season, and has done so again without Clark during Monday’s draft.
ESPN’s audience peaked at 1.46 million viewers on Monday, and the draft was the most-watched program on television among multiple key demographics, including males 18-34 and persons 18-34.
The bar has officially been raised for the WNBA, and the upcoming season will be very telling for the league’s future.
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.