WNBA games are averaging 742,000 viewers across all media partners in the first year of the league’s new rights deal, a 12% increase year over year, with Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever continuing to drive the biggest audiences.
Heading into the second half of the 2026 season at the All-Star break, more than 73 million people in the U.S. have tuned in to WNBA games so far—the highest figure on record at this point.
The gains stem from Nielsen Big Data methodology (used by many leagues), new broadcast partners NBC and USA Network, and Clark’s sustained drawing power. A record 29 games have averaged more than 1 million viewers before the break.
NBC, returning to the WNBA for the first time since 2002, has aired just four games but averaged about 1.5 million viewers. USA Network has placed multiple games over the 1 million mark, including the first regular-season cable telecast with a 10 p.m. ET tipoff to clear that threshold. Other partners such as CBS, ABC/ESPN, ION, and Prime Video round out the distribution, with NBC and USA set to carry the WNBA Finals (NBC for Games 1 and 4; USA for the rest). ION, which airs the bulk of the schedule via Friday night doubleheaders, is down overall this season but has back-loaded several Fever games.
Prime Video’s audiences skew younger—nearly six years younger on average than linear TV viewers. The new media-rights agreements, which began this season and include expanded national exposure, are delivering early results as the league builds on recent growth.