Caitlin Clark helps WNBA hit historic late-night cable ratings
Caitlin Clark television ratings keep rewriting WNBA history. In her return from a two-week absence, Clark and the Indiana Fever averaged 1.04 million viewers on USA Network and CNBC for a Wednesday 10 p.m. ET game in Los Angeles—the first WNBA tip-off that late to clear one million viewers on cable. The milestone matters because it proves Clark can still pull seven-figure audiences in one of the worst possible TV windows.
Key Takeaways
- Wednesday's Fever-Sparks game averaged 1.04 million viewers on USA Network and CNBC at a 10 p.m. ET start.
- USA Sports PR said it was the network's most-watched WNBA game on record, up 149% from the 2025 cable average.
- Indiana also drew 1.55 million viewers against Las Vegas on July 5 without Clark on ESPN.
- A'ja Wilson and the Aces have appeared in seven different games topping one million viewers this season.
- ESPN and ABC are averaging 1.3 million viewers through early July, up 6% year over year.
Why did Caitlin Clark's LA return draw 1.04 million viewers?
Clark marked her return after a two-week absence when the Fever visited the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena on July 8. According to OutKick, USA Sports PR cited Nielsen Big Data + Panel data showing the cable-only broadcast was the most-watched WNBA game on record for the network.
That audience was up 149% compared with the 2025 cable average. It also became the first time in league history that a game starting at 10 p.m. ET averaged at least one million viewers—a slot that would have been considered a ratings dead zone before Clark's arrival.
How big are Clark's broadcast numbers compared with other Fever games?
Clark has delivered even larger audiences on broadcast television this season. Indiana's opening-weekend game against the Dallas Wings averaged 2.49 million viewers on ABC, the league's fourth-largest audience since 2000 including playoffs and All-Star Games, per OutKick.
A CBS matchup against the New York Liberty averaged 2.56 million viewers and peaked at 3.02 million, ranking third all-time since 2000. Those figures show why live sports audiences remain one of the most durable forces in a fragmented media landscape.
Can the Fever still draw crowds when Clark is sidelined?
Yes—and the numbers are striking. Sports Media Watch reported that Indiana's July 5 game against the Las Vegas Aces, played without Clark, averaged 1.55 million viewers on ESPN's "Women's Sports Sundays." At the time, that was the largest cable or streaming audience of the season and the fifth-largest across all networks.
Each of the five most-watched games this season has featured the Fever. Two of those came during Clark's two-week absence, including a prior Sparks game on CBS that averaged 1.57 million viewers. Four of the six most-watched cable or streaming games this season aired on USA Sports, all involving Clark and the Fever.
Is the WNBA's ratings boom bigger than Caitlin Clark?
The league's growth extends beyond one star. Yardbarker noted that A'ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces have appeared in seven different games drawing more than one million viewers apiece this season, including matchups against Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Golden State.
Even so, Indiana still owns the season's highest peaks. ESPN and ABC are averaging 1.3 million viewers through early July, up 6% from last year, while USA Sports is averaging 512,000 viewers on its games, up 22% from last year's WNBA cable average. Clark may set the ceiling—but the Fever, the Aces, and expanded national TV windows are lifting the floor.