WNBA shares historic numbers for the 2024 regular season

The GIST: The WNBA season isn’t over yet, but the league’s regular-season wrap report confirms this year may have been the best one yet. On Friday, the W shared viewership, attendance, and sales data that show the league is in the perfect place for expansion. Onward and upward.

📺 This year was the most-watched WNBA regular season in ESPN history. Across ESPN platforms, an average of 1.19M viewers tuned in, a 170% YoY jump. Plus, a record 54M unique viewers tuned in across all networks, something newer sports channels like Ion benefitted from as it drew 23.37M viewers across the season. Get ready, NBC.

🏟️ Historic league, team, and game attendance records were set in 2024. Last month’s Indiana Fever–Washington Mystics matchup had a single-game record of 20.7K fans, while the Fever set the single-season home attendance record at 340.7K. Overall, the WNBA saw its best total attendance in 22 years with 2.35M fans catching regular-season games across the league, up 48% YoY.

📱 The WNBA broke all-time records for digital consumption and merchandise sales. It saw almost 2B views across its social media platforms, while merch sales on WNBA.com and its flagship NYC store were up a combined 601% YoY.

🤝 A historic season meant historic partnerships. This year, every brand wanted to activate around the WNBA, including dating app Bumble and charter provider Delta Airlines. Apparel brand New Balance also braved a market populated by Nike, Adidas, and Puma by inking its own WNBA partnership this July after signing LA Sparks rookie Cameron Brink.

• Sponsorships exploded at a team level as well, especially among top-tier franchises like the Aces and Liberty. Ally secured its first WNBA partnership in March with Las Vegas, while the Liberty leaned into its NYC location by doubling down with Bumble and cult designer brand Off-White. Believe the hype.