It’s no secret that the WNBA just finished up its best viewership season in decades. But now we’re getting some insight into just what that audience looked like.
The composition of this year’s WNBA playoff audience skewed more heavily towards women than last year, according to a social media post by ESPN’s VP of Research Flora Kelly. In total, women made up 45% of the WNBA playoff audience this season, up from 40% a year prior.
Post mortem on the success of the WNBA playoffs (+139%) . Women were a major catalyst, outpacing total growth by 27 percentage points & made up 45% of the audience, up from 40% last year.
Girls made a difference with females 2-17 outpacing M2-17 by 35 percentage points— Flora Kelly (@ESPNFlora) October 28, 2024
Much of that growth was driven by young women. Girls aged 2-17 watched this year’s playoffs at a 35% higher clip than boys in the same age range. Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that viewership among girls within that demographic increased by 181% on ESPN through that point in the season. The growth in younger viewers has to be delightful news for the WNBA as many other professional sports leagues struggle to attract a young demographic.
Per Kelly, the WNBA playoffs increased by a staggering 139% year-over-year, with women outpacing that overall figure by 27%. It’s notable that even accounting for the league’s record growth this season, female viewers have had an outsized impact.
As goes without saying, it has been a banner year for the WNBA. The league attracted its first million-viewer audience since 2008 during the WNBA Draft in April. Then, the league repeated that feat 31 more times throughout the season. All five games of the WNBA Finals reached over one-million viewers, with the series deciding Game 5 averaging 2.15 million viewers, the most-watched Finals game since 1998.
Now, the league looks ahead to 2025 and beyond. Next season will be the final year of the league’s current media rights agreements, with a significant financial windfall awaiting in 2026. That won’t come without substantial hurdles, however.
The WNBA must first figure out its collective bargaining agreement, which the players’ association opted-out of earlier this month. A new agreement has to be reached by the end of next season, or a work stoppage looms.
Considering the indisputable momentum the WNBA has from a growth perspective, it’s hard to imagine a work stoppage. But there would be no quicker way to lose the newfound attention of young fans than not playing at all.
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.