CINCINNATI, OH. – Average viewership for the State Farm WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION in 2024 increased by 133% from 2023, and the network attracted 23.37 million unique viewers across games and wrap shows. The male audience (ages 25-54) grew 181%.
“We are incredibly pleased with the success of our partnership with Scripps Sports, which has played a pivotal role in amplifying the reach and visibility of the WNBA season,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. “Through this partnership, we’ve been able to showcase great basketball with a broader audience, deepening the connection between the league, the players and our growing fanbase while delivering record-breaking viewership numbers.”
The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) completed the second year of a multi-year agreement to televise weekly double-headers in primetime on Fridays during the regular season on ION, a national sports and entertainment broadcast network that reaches every U.S. TV household over-the-air and on all major pay TV and connected TV services.
“This season was a big step forward for the WNBA and its players in terms of exposure both in arenas and on television,” said Brian Lawlor, Scripps Sports president. “It was so fun to watch the momentum build throughout the season. Scripps is thrilled to have played a part in that.”
ION broadcast a WNBA-high 43 regular-season games and a league-high 67 hours of WNBA regular-season content, and this year added a studio show that aired before, in-between and sometimes after games. Scripps Sports also unveiled a new studio designed and built, in part, specifically for ION on WNBA studio shows.
Highlights of “WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION” Season 2*:
- WNBA games on ION averaged 670,000 P2+ viewers, a 133% increase from 2023.
- Of the total reach of 23.37 million – up from 12.3 million last year – 9.46 million viewers P2+ only watched games on ION. (One-minute qualifier Live+SD; excludes repeat broadcasts and ESPND)
- 7 telecasts exceeded an average of 1 million viewers, topped by the Aug. 30 games between the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, a national broadcast, and the Minnesota Lynx and Dallas Wings, a local broadcast, which together drew an average of 1.6 million and peaked at 1.92 million.
- ION delivered the largest percentage of female audience of any network airing WNBA games this season – 50% of the ION P18-49 audience was female and 45% of the P2+ audience was female.
- ION delivered more than 3.7 million hours of viewing across the season, including via Roku, Samsung TV+, LG, Vizio, Xumo, Plex, Amazon Fire Channels, Pluto, CW and Tablo.
- Scripps added more than 20 new advertisers as ratings surged in the second year of WNBA broadcasts on ION.
- The WNBA on ION social media saw strong year-over-year growth, generating 100 million+ impressions on Instagram, X and Facebook through collaborations with players, teams and the league.
WNBA contributed to this column