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Liberty's Game 5 Win vs. Lynx Was WNBA's Most-Watched Finals Game in 25 Years

Paul KasabianFeatured Columnist IIOctober 22, 2024

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 20: Jonquel Jones #35 of the New York Liberty and Kayla McBride #21 of the Minnesota Lynx tip off to start Game Five of the WNBA Finals at Barclays Center on October 20, 2024 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The New York Liberty defeated the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in overtime to win the championship. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
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Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals between the victorious New York Liberty and runner-up Minnesota Lynx was the most watched Finals game in 25 years, with an average audience of 2.2 million viewers and a peak viewership of 3.3 million.

Alexa Philippou @alexaphilippou

Just announced: Game 5 of the WNBA Finals was the most-viewed Finals game in 25 years with 2.2 million viewers (and it peaked at 3.3). That's a 142% increase from the championship-clinching Game 4 last year. <br><br>What a way for the WNBA to go out with a bang <a href="https://t.co/YkR6vN0cmD">pic.twitter.com/YkR6vN0cmD</a>

According to an ESPN press release, Game 5 was also the fourth-most watched WNBA Finals game in history. Across the series, this year's Finals audience was up 115 percent over last year's matchup, when the Las Vegas Aces beat the Liberty in four games.

This was a monumental year for the WNBA, which welcomed a host of exciting first-year talent led by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

Clark in particular was a massive ratings draw. Per Jack Baer of Yahoo Sports, 20 of the 23 regular-season games that drew one million or more viewers this season featured Clark and the Indiana Fever. The top 14 games by audience all featured the Fever. Per Sports Media Watch, no WNBA game averaged over one million viewers since 2008 before this year.

But even without Clark, the WNBA playoffs saw massive ratings.

It helped that this year's WNBA Finals was the most competitive, closely contested matchup in league history, with three of the four games being decided by one possession and Game 5 going to overtime before the Liberty won 67-62.

It wouldn't be a surprise to see the all-time WNBA Finals single-game audience mark (3.25 million, Game 2 of the 1998 Finals, per Sports Media Watch) get shattered soon, perhaps as soon as next season.