{"id":873309,"date":"2026-10-06T23:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873309\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:32:11","slug":"caitlin-clarks-lowest-rated-playoff-game-still-outdrew-every-non-fever-first-round-broadcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/873309\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark’s lowest-rated playoff game still outdrew every non-Fever first-round broadcast"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indiana Fever BOUNCED By The Las Vegas Aces As Fans Continue To Receive Backlash | Don’t @ Me w\/ Dan Dakich<\/a> <\/p>\n

Dan reacts to the Indiana Fever\u2019s season coming to a heartbreaking end with a 94-83 loss in Game 3 to the defending champion Las Vegas Aces\u2014and the relentless media excuses that followed. Despite the Fever’s playoff elimination, the sports media mob and WNBA players are still attacking Fever fans. Dan Dakich breaks down the brutal, physical Game 3, terrible officiating, and free throw disparity that left Caitlin Clark bleeding from an uncalled elbow to the mouth while Lexie Hull was hit with a foul on an obvious hook-and-hold. Plus, Dan shreds media pundits like Jemele Hill for defending A\u2019ja Wilson charging at a fan courtside, while calling out Natasha Cloud for once again blasting Fever fans instead of addressing the league’s horrific refereeing and media double standards.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark’s<\/a> least-watched playoff game this year still drew a bigger audience than every non-Fever first-round game.<\/p>\n

And it was the one fans needed Prime Video to watch.<\/p>\n

This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX News may be compensated. This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom.<\/p>\n

Indiana’s Sept. 29 win over the Las Vegas Aces<\/a> averaged 1.42 million viewers on Amazon’s streaming service, according to Sports Media Watch. The largest audience for a first-round game without the Fever was 1.40 million for Golden State’s Game 2 loss to Dallas on ESPN.<\/p>\n

KELSEY MITCHELL\u2019S CAITLIN CLARK COMMENTS DESERVE CONTEXT, INCLUDING THE BENEFITS OF ALL THAT ATTENTION<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Caitlin <\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark’s Prime Video playoff game drew 1.42 million viewers, exceeding every reported non-Fever first-round WNBA audience. (NBAE via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The difference was small, approximately 20,000 viewers. But Clark’s lowest number came on a streaming-exclusive broadcast and still finished ahead of every non-Fever audience, including those that aired on network television and cable.<\/p>\n

Two nights later, Indiana’s season-ending loss to Las Vegas<\/a> averaged 2.25 million viewers across USA Network and CNBC, making it the second-most-watched WNBA first-round playoff game ever.<\/p>\n

Can you guess who played in the most-watched first-round game ever? Yeah, it was Clark and the Fever against the Connecticut Sun<\/a> in 2024, which saw Game 2 of their first-round series average 2.54 million viewers on ESPN.<\/p>\n

So, across three games, Clark helped deliver one of the biggest first-round audiences in league history and a streaming audience that exceeded every non-Fever telecast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s a pretty good illustration of what she means to the WNBA.<\/p>\n

Clark, Fever predictably draw massive first-round audiences<\/p>\n

Indiana’s three games averaged approximately 1.93 million viewers, compared with 985,000 for the seven non-Fever games. That gave Clark’s games an average audience approximately 96% larger than the other first-round games, nearly double the audience.<\/p>\n

THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW\u2013UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!<\/a><\/p>\n

And while networks, start times and streaming distribution varied across all those games, the opening Sunday offered a very clean comparison point.<\/p>\n

ABC aired New York\u2013Minnesota and Indiana\u2013Las Vegas on Sept. 27. The Liberty\u2013Lynx opener averaged 1.20 million viewers<\/a> while the Fever\u2013Aces opener averaged 2.11 million.<\/p>\n

Same day. Same network. Approximately 76% more viewers for the Fever.<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin <\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark’s final playoff game drew 2.25 million viewers, ranking second in WNBA first-round history behind another Indiana Fever game in 2024. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

There’s also a comparison within Prime Video. Washington\u2013Atlanta’s opener averaged 425,000 viewers.<\/p>\n

Angel Reese, who now plays for Atlanta, famously insisted<\/a> in 2024 that people watch women’s basketball “because of me too.” But on the same streaming platform, Clark’s Fever drew more than three times the audience of Reese’s Dream.<\/p>\n

The WNBA has been here before<\/p>\n

Last year, I wrote about the Fever’s playoff opener without an injured Clark<\/a>. Indiana drew 951,000 viewers on ABC, compared with 1.84 million for its opener with Clark the previous year. Both games aired in the same Sunday afternoon slot opposite the NFL.<\/p>\n

The 2025 All-Star Game offered another example<\/a>. With Clark sidelined, ABC averaged 2.19 million viewers, down from roughly 3.4 million in 2024.<\/p>\n

Then, with Clark back in 2026, the number jumped back over 3 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Caitlin <\/p>\n

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are the main draw in the WNBA and it isn’t even close. (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

OUTKICK IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE FOX NEWS APP: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD<\/a><\/p>\n

There is also evidence that fans will watch the league after Indiana is eliminated. In 2024, I noted that the semifinals were delivering strong audiences<\/a>, including Liberty\u2013Aces games that outdrew every game of those teams’ championship series the year before.<\/p>\n

For the WNBA, the opportunity is to turn fans who arrive for Clark into fans who stay for everybody else. These numbers show there is a long way to go in that department.<\/p>\n

The two Fever games on traditional television each drew more than two million viewers. Even Indiana’s streaming-exclusive game edged the biggest reported non-Fever telecast. The seven non-Fever games averaged under one million viewers.<\/p>\n

The remaining teams now have a chance to make their own case to viewers, with a championship still to be decided. I’ll be interested to see those audiences when they’re available.<\/p>\n

The WNBA’s biggest draw is done for the season. Now we find out how many viewers are.<\/p>\n

Dan Zaksheske is a reporter at OutKick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana Fever BOUNCED By The Las Vegas Aces As Fans Continue To Receive Backlash | Don’t @ Me…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2205,1760,2839,259870,99,434],"class_list":["post-873309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-betting","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-indiana-fever","tag-outkick-sports","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}