The new WNBA season opened with another milestone audience, if not quite at the level of last year\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Last weekend\u2019s Wings-Fever WNBA opening weekend game averaged a 1.4 rating and 2.49 million viewers on ABC, down from Sky-Fever last year (2.70M), but still the league\u2019s fourth-largest audience \u2014 including the playoffs and All-Star Game \u2014 since 2000.<\/p>\n
(Note that Nielsen did not begin including out-of-home viewing in its estimates until 2020, only began doing so in 100 percent of markets a year ago, and is mere months into a new methodology that combines its traditional panel with \u201cBig Data\u201d from smart TVs and set-top boxes. Those changes will generally skew historical comparisons, particularly to years prior to 2020.)<\/p>\n
The Wings-Fever matchup featured the past three #1 picks in newcomer Azzi Fudd, teammate Paige Bueckers and the league\u2019s best-known player Caitlin Clark, but last year\u2019s game was a higher-profile pairing of Clark and Angel Reese \u2014 the player widely viewed as her main rival.<\/p>\n
Despite the dip, the Wings\u2019 win was the most-watched sporting event of last weekend outside of the NBA Playoffs and final round of the PGA Tour at Quail Hollow.<\/p>\n
In the second half of the doubleheader, a lopsided Mercury-Aces WNBA Finals rematch averaged 1.2 million \u2014 down from Aces-Liberty last year (1.3M). The full doubleheader averaged 1.85 million, down from last year (2.00M), but up from the first ABC doubleheader two years ago (1.53M).<\/p>\n