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  • Every WNBA network's biggest regular-season audience in 2026 featured Caitlin Clark's Fever

Every WNBA network's biggest regular-season audience in 2026 featured Caitlin Clark's Fever

Every WNBA network's biggest regular-season audience in 2026 featured Caitlin Clark's Fever

Every WNBA network's biggest regular-season audience in 2026 featured Caitlin Clark's Fever

The WNBA sent out a news release Wednesday celebrating its record-setting 2026 season. Television audiences grew, attendance increased and the league had plenty of accomplishments to promote.


But read through the television section and youll notice the same team keeps showing up. ABCs biggest regular-season game featured Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. So did the biggest games on CBS, ESPN, ION, NBC and Peacock, USA Network and Amazon Prime Video.


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The league highlighted seven platforms and every one had its biggest regular-season audience with the Fever on the court.


Ive written quite a bit about Clarks impact on WNBA viewership, including how Indianas 10 regular-season games on ABC, CBS and NBC averaged twice the audience of the two semifinal openers. This time, the league supplied a network-by-network breakdown that makes a pretty good case for giving the Fever as many television windows as possible.


Here are the biggest regular-season games on the seven platforms noted in the WNBAs report:


NBCs section also included Indianas July 12 game against Las Vegas, which drew 2.64 million viewers across NBC and Peacock. That was the second-most-watched regular-season game of the year, behind the Fevers August matchup with Chicago.


Then theres ESPN and ABC. The Disney-owned networks had five regular-season games exceed two million viewers and, unsurprisingly, Indiana played in all five.



Put yourself in the position of someone buying WNBA television rights. Youd want Clark on your schedule as often as you could get her. The people selling advertising around those games probably wouldnt need much convincing, either.


And fans didnt need every Fever game handed to them on a major broadcast network. They found Indiana on cable and paid streaming services, too.


The league reported that 51 regular-season telecasts averaged at least one million viewers, up from 19 last year. Nine topped two million, compared with four in 2025.


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Games without Indiana also gained viewers. Non-Fever regular-season broadcasts on ESPN and ABC averaged 984,000 viewers, up 24% from last year, according to Sports Media Watch.


Ive said before that the WNBAs opportunity is to turn people who show up for Clark into people who keep watching other teams. Id be interested to know how many of those additional viewers first started following the league because of her. These numbers dont answer that question, but a reasonable person might conclude she certainly didn't hurt overall viewership.


Go back to 2023, the year before Clark entered the league. WNBA regular-season games across ESPNs networks averaged 440,000 viewers, and that was their best regular-season audience in 17 years. Then Clark arrive

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