You tuned in for Monday’s 2024 WNBA Draft.
Boy, did you ever.
Monday’s draft, featuring Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink and a ton of other star college basketball players, averaged a record 2.446 million viewers, a head-spinning 307 percent increase in viewership over last year.
The previous all-time viewership for a WNBA Draft came in 2004 for Diana Taurasi’s draft year. That drew 601,000 viewers. Last year averaged 572,000 viewers on ESPN, which was up 42 percent over 2022 and the most-watched WNBA Draft since 2004.
What traditionally drives big viewership numbers for the NBA and NFL drafts are well-known players from college (think Zion Williamson) and star skill position players (think Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa). This is the case even if the public has an idea of who will be picked first.
This WNBA Draft had an endless supply of players with name recognition and an obvious transcendent viewership draw in Clark. It has also never had this kind of momentum.
GO DEEPER
Is Caitlin Clark’s star power strong enough to spike WNBA fandom?
South Carolina’s 87-75 win over Iowa on April 7 averaged 18.9 million viewers, the most-viewed women’s college basketball game ever and the most-viewed college basketball game (men’s or women’s) on record for an ESPN platform….
