The Christmas Day lineup netted a 10% increase in viewership, with the Dallas Mavericks and Lakers contest averaging 7.01 million viewers. Which leads us here: The average NBA salary is about $7.5 million; according to the league, the average WNBA salary in 2019 was reportedly about $116,000, but a new collective bargaining agreement which runs from 2020 to 2027 provides a 53% pay increase, plus maternity leave at full salary, $5,000 for child care, and as much as $60,000 for adoption, surrogacy, egg freezing and fertility treatments. Team Stats. A multi-year deal with Amazon Prime Video made the WNBA the first womens professional sports league to be streamed on Prime Video, with Amazon receiving exclusive streaming rights to 16 WNBA games each season. ESPN also. WHAT a @WNBA season State of League . Access to this and all other statistics on 80,000 topics from, Show sources information You cant ask for anything better than to have a 15 percent increase (for the Finals) when the NBA Finals is down 49 percent.. "Level of Interest in Wnba in The United States as of May 2022, by Gender. Which was a drop of 16% on the previous year. ET, before the No. NEW YORK, Aug. 17, 2022 The WNBA finished the 2022 regular season delivering its most-watched regular season in 14 years. Terrell Buckley, a 14-year NFL veteran and Super Bowl champion, knows a thing or two about work ethic and during an XFL game on Sunday, he blasted his team for their performance. The Sky won their first WNBA championship after beating the Mercury 80-74. WNBA players want what NBA players spent decades trying to obtain. Get full access to all features within our Business Solutions. Theres a big gap between PGA Tour and LPGA Tour prize money. For a league that is still focused on growth and evening the playing field, the virtual pandemic season still produced reason for optimism. The BarDown podcast will investigate, uncover and explore long-form stories at the intersection of sports . It has taken decades to overcome such backward thinking, and the womens games have been playing catch-up ever since. Additionally, the WNBA saw an increase in the opening weekend and postseason viewership last season while it alongside the NBA return to play, the NWSL Challenge Cup, and the NHL return to play. The WNBA noted its viewership is up 51% when compared to the 2020 regular season. Yesterday was a historic day for the @WNBA @nikebasketball released 3new designs for each team and the reveal ERUPTED on social media There were over 17K posts, 646K engagements, and 69 MILLION impressions about the drop Which one is your fave?#WNBA pic.twitter.com/kmj2uNzu0j. That parts crazy to me. WNBA's ESPN viewership up 74% after five games of 2021 season Women's basketball league averaging 357,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. Numbers were significantly impacted by the pandemic this year, as many teams only allowed severely limited attendance until after the Olympic break. According to the WNBA, this is the most watched season since 2008. ESPN said the 2021 WNBA Finals between the Chicago Sky and Phoenix Mercury attracted an average of 548,000 viewers throughout four games. Other highlights from the season include: The WNBA Playoffs 2021 presented by Google tipped off on Thursday, Sept. 23, with two first-round, single-elimination games on ESPN2. And though the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics did not [] All of which leaves the WNBA a little short of money. Despite being virtual as opposed to broadcast live from Nike Headquarters in New York City they are the two most-viewed WNBA Drafts in nearly 20 years. Under the CBA, base salaries increase to $130,000 and the leagues elite players can earn upward of $500,000. The WNBA capped off the season by announcing that WNBA League Pass, the leagues out-of-market regular season live game package that also features highlights and off-the-court content from the 2022 season as well as every archived game since the 2015 season, would now be available through Roku. Learn more about how Statista can support your business. The WNBA Semifinals and the WNBA Finals 2021 presented by YouTube TV are a best-of-five series. The first round will be the best-of-three, while the semifinals and Finals will be best-of-five series. The WNBAs Covid-disrupted 2020 regular season averaged 205,000 viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, a drop of 16 per cent on the previous year. The drop of the new jerseys yielded over 69 million impressions on drop day. Dont let WNBA stories go untold. Diana Taurasi is called the Michael Jordan of the WNBA. Ever heard of her? The first and second rounds are single-elimination games. During opening weekend in 2021, WNBA viewership soared 25% versus the prior year. Saturdays inaugural fixture on the streaming service saw the Atlanta Dream secure a thrilling 90-87 win over the New York Liberty in overtime. Meanwhile, across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok,the WNBA set records for social media engagement with 135 million video views and 14.5 million actions. Viewership is up 89% from the 2020 MLB playoffs and there is a 3% spike from the playoffs in 2019. You may opt-out by. Further proof of concept was evident in the recent WNBA and Nike launch of three new uniforms for each of the 12 teams in the league. to incorporate the statistic into your presentation at any time. The workplace benefits historically marginalized groups enjoy from unionization are well-documented. NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2021 The WNBA capped off its historic 25th regular season by delivering its most-watched season since 2008 for its television partners ABC, CBS, ESPN and ESPN2 with viewership up 51% over the 2020 season, and by setting records for merchandise sales online and engagement across its social media platforms. The best of the best: the portal for top lists & rankings: Strategy and business building for the data-driven economy: Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). Game 3 (Oct.15, ESPN2) notched 524,000 viewers and peaked at 591,000, making it the most-viewed non-title-clinching Game 3 since the 2007 WNBA Finals. Serena Williams and Brittney Griner were each honored at the NAACP Image Awards on Saturday, when Williams won the Jackie Robinson Sports Award and . Atlanta Dream Team Store; . Last year, Sabrina Ionescu went first to New York. And the 2021 WNBA Finals winners, the Chicago Sky, sold more merchandise on Fanatics since their WNBA title win over just two days than any other prior WNBA champ has sold in the first 30 days following a title victory. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. LPGA golfers face the same challenge. WNBA games haven't averaged 8,000 fans per game since 2009, and the 2017 figure was down 28.9 percent from the league's all-time high attendance in 1998, which was the WNBA's second season. In that same span, ratings fell 20 percent on ESPN. Twenty-five years ago, the National Basketball Association Board of Directors approved the Womens National Basketball Association. Englebert reported the average viewership of games rose 68% this season, crediting that largely to a substantial increase in games on the ESPN Network as well as the league's debut on the CBS. Nobody wants to acknowledge that some sports translate better than others for both men and women, for whatever reason. And the Las Vegas Aces, Connecticut Sun, Seattle Storm, Washington Mystics, New York Liberty, and Atlanta Dream all were on a decline. The NBA's sponsorship revenue is about 100x the WNBA's; the NBA's cable viewership is 88x the WNBA's; and the . 3 Minnesota Lynx and the No. Accessed March 05, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1108312/women-national-basketball-association-interest-gender/, Morning Consult. Please create an employee account to be able to mark statistics as favorites. For instance, there may have been no more exciting moment in the WNBA postseason than Phoenix Mercury guard Shey Peddys buzzer-beater against her former team, the Washington Mystics, in the first-round single-elimination game on Sept. 16. Alex Ovechkin has led the Capitals this season with 33 goals, 24 assists, and 244 shots on goal. Over the whole season, they didnt get a single situation where they were leading into the NBA or the NBA was leading into them. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images). Each of Wilson, Stewart and Bird generated more than $600,000 in social value this season, in large part because they were some of the most active athletes on the platform when it came to sharing content from other brands and personalities. The highest average was the Phoenix Mercury with 5,849 and the lowest was the Los Angeles Sparks with 1,144. This year, ESPNs 2021 WNBA schedule featured 24 regular season games, as well as the WNBA Playoffs and Finals, the WNBA All-Star Game, and the annual WNBA Draft. US broadcaster ESPN has revealed that viewership of the Womens National Basketball Association (WNBA) has been up significantly during the early weeks of the 2021 regular season. You cant ask for anything better than to have a 15% increase (for the Finals) when the NBA Finals is down 49%, John Lewis of Paulsen Sports Media Watch said. At the same time, the leagues digital footprint tells a slightly different story. Chart. Digital: A record was set for the traffic the WNBA site saw online. All Rights Reserved. However, the shrinking interest is more than a concern. Spurred by sales of the new Nike H.E.R. That is a 49% increase compared to 2020 and 24% increase to 2019. As a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic. That means they have an opportunity to keep growing, and are popular online where those fans who do not tune in live. All stats are from the 2018-2019 NBA season and the 2019 WNBA season. Statistics; Cookie statement . Lets first take a look at the last two WNBA Drafts. Sunday's Game 1 of the ALCS on TBS drew 2.07 million viewers. You need a Statista Account for unlimited access. Recently, Draymond Green, one of those highly paid male players, poured a little gas on the fire by offering his opinions on the subject (in short, the women shouldnt complain). most-watched NCAA Tournament game in 10 years, WNBA Viewership & Ratings Growing In 2021, Fans prefer to attend Seattle Storm games on, During the WNBAs first season, the Phoenix Mercury had the highest a, In 2008 the Detroit Shock were the WNBA Champions. The mens league casts a big shadow, which is why the WNBA plays its season from July to October. The four-round WNBA postseason features the eight teams with the best regular-season records. Furthermore, the 2021 NCAA Womens Final Four pulled some of itshighest viewership numbersever. The NBA watched the NFL capture an eleven-year deal worth more than $100 billion deal last summer. According to Statista, the average TV viewers of the WNBA regular season in 2016 was 224,000 and grew to 246,000 in 2019. WNBA DELIVERS MOST-WATCHED REGULAR SEASON SINCE 2008 Strong Regular Season Growth Bill Laimbeer, a four-time NBA All-Star, was known as one of the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys" when they won NBA championships in 1989 . While the NBA had higher viewership numbers last summer, 68% of our fans watched the NBA versus 82% of them watching a regular-season WNBA game. The WNBA reported a 51% increase in viewership over the regular season in 2020. Dont just show up for the big moments because WNBA fans and their athletes know this. The share the percentage of households with. Overall, the 2014 playoffs averaged a 0.3 rating and 489,000 viewers on the ESPN networks, up from 0.2 and 272,000 in 2013. viewership dropped roughly 50 percent . The WNBA Playoffs will feature a maximum of 27 games, all available across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, the ESPN App and NBA TV. Visit ESPN to view the Las Vegas Aces team stats for the 2022 season. Here's the "Sunday Night Football" viewership so far this season: Week 1: Bears-Rams, 17.64 million Week 2: Chiefs-Ravens, 19.81 million Week 3: Packers-49ers, 19.69 million Week 4:. Will the recent increase in viewership and engagement provide the necessary proof of concept needed to propel the WNBA to the next level? Show publisher information Still, there were times that WNBA oversaturation bit the league. The 2019 NBA Finals averaged a little more than 20 million viewers per game; the 2019 WNBA Finals averaged about 400,000 viewers per game. Today's top WNBA players can earn upwards of $500,000, courtesy of last year's landmark collective bargaining agreement, which guaranteed new maternity benefits and better travel conditions. Shouldnt the league be able to stand on its own before it offers such rewards? Level of interest in WNBA in the United States as of May 2022, by gender [Graph]. 2 seeded Chicago Sky and the reigning Finals MVP Kahleah Copper begin their defense of the WNBA title at home against the seventh seeded New York Liberty and All-Stars Sabrina Ionescu and Natasha Howard on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ", Regular season attendance WNBA games 2022. ), explains: Im tired of people thinking that (we) players are asking for the same type of money as NBA players we are asking for the same percentage of revenue shared within our CBA. . (May 26, 2022). It seems preposterous now, but only 50 years ago womens high school sports largely did not exist. An NBA Draft . I would imagine a majority of people who watch the WNBA are people who watch the NBA, so its going to be a very difficult thing to build an audience when, even if you like (both leagues) equally, youre stepping on a Game 7 and thats going to take precedence, Lewis added. WNBA Draft 2022 presented by State Farm averaged 403,000 viewers on ESPN, up 20 percent over last year, making it the most watched WNBA Draft since 2004. Back in 2020, the WNBA and the Womens National Basketball Players Association signed a landmark collective bargaining agreement. Game 1 (Oct. 10, ABC) was the most-viewed opening game of the WNBA Finals since 2017, registering 456,000 viewers and peaking with 547,000. The league also reached several milestones including new sponsors, merchandise, distribution, and technology. Show publisher information #WNBA viewership continues to rise 2021 #WNBAFinals | Most-viewed Finals since 2017 with 548,000 average viewers Enjoying SportsPro content? This season included 11 windows on broadcast television (ABC + CBS), the league's most in a season since at least two decades (NBC carried 10 in 2001 and 2002). The league is nearly irrelevant to the average sports fan. Which was a drop of 16% on the previous year. At a time when sports continue to shed live viewers, the WNBAs numbers this year shows they still have not hit their ceiling. Statista. The NBAs average ticket price is variously reported at between $51 to $89; the WNBAs $17. The result was the second-best viewership of the entire season, with 579,000 fans tuning in. Black History Month: Emerging Leaders | Renee Montgomery: An Owner with a Players Perspective, WNBA Draft 2023 Presented By State Farm To Be Held On April 10th. You can only download this statistic as a Premium user. And I think thats definitely achievable. she continued. The 2021 NCAA Womens Final Four pulled some of its highest viewership numbers ever. These decreases are what sitcoms experience before cancellation. The WNBA capped off its historic 25thregular season by delivering its most-watched season since 2008 for its television partners ABC, CBS, ESPN and ESPN2 viewershipwas up 51% over the 2020 season. Digging into just the ESPN family of networks, regular season games broadcast or streamed averaged 306,000 viewers per game in 2021. They never got a single NBA/WNBA double-header over the course of this going back to July. MPG Minutes Per Game . The final game for that series averaged 570,000 viewers. According to ESPN, the 2021 WNBA Finals were the most-viewed since 2017, with an average of 548,000 viewers across ESPN networks and ABC. Chart. The leagues fixtures were averaging 357,000 viewers across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 after the first five games of the current campaign, which is the WNBAs 25th season. The WNBA also welcomed Google as its newest WNBA Changemaker, joining AT&T, Deloitte and Nike and the tech company sponsored 25 games on ESPN as part of the partnership. The Washington Capitals are averaging 3.02 goals per game, 2.97 goals against per game, 20.9% on the power play, and 82.4% on the penalty kill. Viewership increased 23% from last year's three-game sweep (Storm-Aces: 444K) and up 43% from the five-game Mystics-Sun series in 2019 (381K). In comparison, last October's three-game WNBA Finals series featuring the Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces averaged 440,000 viewers. You're joking. Strauss adds the league's local viewership, too, has sharply declined. According to ESPN, the audience figure represents a rise of 74 per cent on the average for the entire 2020 season and an increase of 45 per cent compared to the average viewership during the 2019 campaign. Statista. A paid subscription is required for full access. As for the WNBA post-season, it was the most viewed since 2014. Overview and forecasts on trending topics, Industry and market insights and forecasts, Key figures and rankings about companies and products, Consumer and brand insights and preferences in various industries, Detailed information about political and social topics, All key figures about countries and regions, Market forecast and expert KPIs for 600+ segments in 150+ countries, Insights on consumer attitudes and behavior worldwide, Business information on 60m+ public and private companies, Detailed information for 35,000+ online stores and marketplaces. Considering the circumstances, the WNBA will likely come away from its 2020 season content with the way it was able to connect with fans, especially from its Bubble in south Florida. However, the average viewership for the finals increased 15 per cent to 440,000. As a Premium user you get access to background information and details about the release of this statistic. statistic alerts) please log in with your personal account. The St. Louis Blues are averaging 3.05 goals per game, 3.64 goals against per game, 20.7% on the power play, and 76.7% on the penalty kill. It is the most-watched comedy debut on ABC in nearly four years. The introduction of the NWO brought a drastic shift in television viewership, fueling WCW to an unpredictable 83-week smackdown in the battle for ratings supremacy while breathing new life into .
