The Fever-Aces game on Sunday averaged 2.64 million viewers, marking the second-best WNBA regular-season game since 2000. This is also the best WNBA audience this season to date and the best WNBA regular-season Sunday audience since 1998.
NBC had one of its few WNBA games on Sunday night last weekend with Fever-Aces. The network’s four WNBA games have averaged 1.5 million viewers this year, the network’s first season with the league since 2002.
WNBA Viewership on NBC and USA Network
Meanwhile, the Fever’s game against the Sparks on July 8 drew 1.04 million viewers, marking USA Network’s best WNBA game yet and the first time a WNBA game with a start time after 10pm ET drew over 1 million viewers.
The Fever-Aces game’s high viewership is a notable exception in an otherwise slow period for WNBA games on TV. According to the report, this season’s games have seen varied audiences, but the Fever-Aces match stands out as a success.
NBA Summer League Debut
The NBA Summer League debut last Thursday for Wizards F AJ Dybantsa and Jazz G Darryn Peterson delivered 823,000 viewers, the eighth-best Summer League audience on record for ESPN.
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For a comparison, Mavericks F Cooper Flagg‘s debut last season on ESPN delivered 955,000 viewers — the No. 4 Summer League audience of all time. This suggests that while Dybantsa and Peterson’s debut was still notable, it didn’t quite reach the same level as Flagg’s.
Considering the context of the NBA Summer League, the viewership numbers can be seen as a reflection of the league’s overall popularity and the interest in its young players. The fact that these games are drawing significant audiences indicates a strong fan base for the NBA.
Other Sports Telecasts
CBS drew 596,000 viewers for the Big3 from L.A. on Sunday, giving the basketball league four straight weekends of growth over 2025 to start the season.
The World Cup continues to be on pace to be the biggest sporting event yet for social media in the U.S., with around 9.5 billion views on official Fox platforms through the quarterfinal round. There have been over 3.3 billion total minutes of World Cup content consumed across Fox Sports social channels.
Fox Sports has posted over 1,500 social videos around the World Cup, amassing over 1 million viewers. The best day through the quarterfinals was July 5, with 488 million social views for Fox Sports’ best day ever on social media.