WNBA playoff ratings plummet after Clark goes home

___Rand___ · Post #1 » by **___Rand___** » Wed Oct 2, 2024 9:56 pm

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/wnba-playoff-ratings-plummet-after-caitlin-clark-goes-home

After Clark drew a WNBA record 1.84 million viewers to her first playoff game against the Connecticut Sun on Sept. 22, while competing with an NFL Sunday, she followed it up with another record audience of 2.54 million viewers for Game 2. Clark and the Indiana Fever lost both those games, however, sending Clark home for the offseason.

The first game between the Aces and Liberty, a rematch of last year's WNBA finals between two of the league's most popular and successful teams, drew an audience of 929,000, ESPN announced, which is 50% less than the Fever's Game 1 against the Sun. Still, it was historically good for any WNBA playoff game that doesn't involve Clark, as it was better than any of the TV numbers for the finals games between the two teams last year.

Meanwhile, Game 1 of the Sun-Lynx series had an audience of just around 650,000.

Sealab2024 · Post #2 » by **Sealab2024** » Wed Oct 2, 2024 10:09 pm

I don't know about you guys, but Xfinity where I'm at showed NFL Films on the schedule for ESPN 2 yesterday night while the internets said both games were gonna be on regular ESPN which had the MLB playoffs on all day. I didn't figure out the Lynx game was being televised until around half time last night and completely missed the early game. That was for one of the 4 actual participating markets. I'm not saying that the core of it at all, but good God was that a huge mistake.

MrDollarBills · Post #3 » by **MrDollarBills** » Wed Oct 2, 2024 10:33 pm

___Rand___ wrote:https://www.foxnews.com/sports/wnba-playoff-ratings-plummet-after-caitlin-clark-goes-home

After Clark drew a WNBA record 1.84 million viewers to her first playoff game against the Connecticut Sun on Sept. 22, while competing with an NFL Sunday, she followed it up with another record audience of 2.54 million viewers for Game 2. Clark and the Indiana Fever lost both those games, however, sending Clark home for the offseason.

The first game between the Aces and Liberty, a rematch of last year's WNBA finals between two of the league's most popular and successful teams, drew an audience of 929,000, ESPN announced, which is 50% less than the Fever's Game 1 against the Sun. Still, it was historically good for any WNBA playoff game that doesn't involve Clark, as it was better than any of the TV numbers for the finals games between the two teams last year.

Meanwhile, Game 1 of the Sun-Lynx series had an audience of just around 650,000.

Some drop off was to be expected with the Fever being eliminated, but Aces vs Liberty was the most watched semi final WNBA game in 20 years, and it was going up against the NFL.

Try harder.

MrDollarBills · Post #4 » by **MrDollarBills** » Wed Oct 2, 2024 10:36 pm

Sealab2024 wrote:I don't know about you guys, but Xfinity where I'm at showed NFL Films on the schedule for ESPN 2 yesterday night while the internets said both games were gonna be on regular ESPN which had the MLB playoffs on all day. I didn't figure out the Lynx game was being televised until around half time last night and completely missed the early game. That was for one of the 4 actual participating markets. I'm not saying that the core of it at all, but good God was that a huge mistake.

Never trust the TV guides. For some reason for a good portion of the season my provider (Direct TV stream) didn't even have WNBA games listed under the sports filter.

I just Google the games and I find out what channel they're on. You can expect the rest of the playoffs to be on ESPN and ABC.

hermes · Post #5 » by **hermes** » Thu Oct 3, 2024 12:25 am

i know there isn't a lot of room for nuance any more but
https://frontofficesports.com/wnba-viewership-dips-without-clark-but-still-setting-records/

The WNBA is feeling the effects of Caitlin Clark’s elimination—but the league is still clearly growing.

ESPN announced that Sunday’s semifinal game between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty, a rematch of the 2023 WNBA Finals, drew 929,000 viewers during the 3 p.m. ET time slot on ABC, the league’s most-watched semifinal game in 22 years. While the figure is only half of the 1.8 million viewers the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun drew during the previous Sunday’s playoff opener, it’s still more than any Finals game from last year.

Game 1 between the Sun and Minnesota Lynx garnered 654,000 viewers at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. That’s a stark improvement over the non-Fever games from last Sunday, which aired on ESPN and averaged around 425,000 viewers. It’s also 39% more than the average viewership of the 2023 WNBA playoffs.

all of the underlined above happened in games that caitlin clark did not play in

Pelon chingon · Post #6 » by **Pelon chingon** » Thu Oct 3, 2024 12:38 am

They should be grateful CC brought her fan base to the WNBA.

Post #7 » by **Doctor MJ** » Thu Oct 3, 2024 1:14 am

hermes wrote:i know there isn't a lot of room for nuance any more but
https://frontofficesports.com/wnba-viewership-dips-without-clark-but-still-setting-records/
The WNBA is feeling the effects of Caitlin Clark’s elimination—but the league is still clearly growing.

ESPN announced that Sunday’s semifinal game between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty, a rematch of the 2023 WNBA Finals, drew 929,000 viewers during the 3 p.m. ET time slot on ABC, the league’s most-watched semifinal game in 22 years. While the figure is only half of the 1.8 million viewers the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun drew during the previous Sunday’s playoff opener, it’s still more than any Finals game from last year.

Game 1 between the Sun and Minnesota Lynx garnered 654,000 viewers at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. That’s a stark improvement over the non-Fever games from last Sunday, which aired on ESPN and averaged around 425,000 viewers. It’s also 39% more than the average viewership of the 2023 WNBA playoffs.

all of the underlined above happened in games that caitlin clark did not play in

Hey People, make sure you read Hermes' post above before responding. This isn't exactly bad news for the WNBA.

___Rand___ · Post #8 » by **___Rand___** » Thu Oct 3, 2024 1:30 am

MrDollarBills wrote:
Some drop off was to be expected with the Fever being eliminated, but Aces vs Liberty was the most watched semi final WNBA game in 20 years, and it was going up against the NFL.

Try harder.

It's real simple. 2.54 million vs. 0.9 million. Which is less? Is math hard for you?

Post #9 » by **Doctor MJ** » Thu Oct 3, 2024 3:50 am

___Rand___ wrote:
MrDollarBills wrote:
Some drop off was to be expected with the Fever being eliminated, but Aces vs Liberty was the most watched semi final WNBA game in 20 years, and it was going up against the NFL.

Try harder.

It's real simple. 2.54 million vs. 0.9 million. Which is less? Is math hard for you?

Okay, we're done here. We don't need people coming in here looking to be confrontational. Don't do it again.
Doc