The 2025 WNBA regular season saw a surge in viewers despite Caitlin Clark's limited appearance.
ESPN Networks broke WNBA viewership records and delivered the most-watched regular season in the history of the league. The regular season, which wrapped up on September 11, 2025, recorded an average of 1.3 million viewers in 25 regular season games on ESPN networks. The data is up six percent from last season’s record year, which recorded an average of 1.2 million viewers across 24 games.
While Caitlin Clark’s popularity was one of the biggest reasons behind the boost in viewership, this season’s data shows the audience’s genuine interest in the league considering the Indiana Fever star’s appearance was limited to 13 games. According to ESPN, eight of the 10-most watched WNBA games this season aired on ESPN Networks. The most watched regular-season game of this season was the May 17 clash between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever. The game aired on ABC and recorded 2.7 million viewers.
Notably, nine of the top 10 most-viewed games on ESPN Networks were Fever games. According to a spokesperson, it was the most-watched WNBA regular season across ESPN networks among males and females in the age group of 2-and-above. The male viewership increased by 2 percent from 2024 to an average of 721,000 viewers. On the other hand, the female viewership saw a surge of 13 percent and averaged over 543,000 viewers.
Apart from an increase in the regular-season viewership, ESPN’s studio shows also saw a significant growth in the number of viewers. The viewers of ESPN’s WNBA Countdown Presented by Google increased by seven percent year-over-year and averaged 549,000 viewers. In addition to it, the WNBA digital programming Hoop Streams presented by Google as well as The Wrap-Up presented by AT&T recorded a growth of 15% viewership year-over-year. Moreover, the average watch time increased by 61% across platforms such as the ESPN App, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Following a historic regular season, ESPN will aim to continue breaking viewership records during the WNBA playoffs beginning on Sunday, September 14. The network will now exclusively televise the entire 2025 postseason. The increase in audience’s number shows that while Clark’s injury tested the league, stars such as A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, among others kept them hooked.
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