‘I’m not gonna deny the Caitlin Clark effect.’ Rookie biggest draw in WNBA history.

INDIANAPOLIS — The numbers prove it: Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark is a draw.

She is a draw in a way no other player has been before in the 27-year history of the WNBA, and she and the Fever have been putting up mind-boggling viewership and attendance numbers.

“I’m not gonna deny the Caitlin Clark effect,” WNBA Chief Growth Officer Colie Edison told IndyStar during All-Star weekend. “And we’ve really seen it most importantly in viewership, you know, our average viewership numbers are over 1.2 million. And so that sort of growth is important because we’re opening the aperture and bringing in new fans. So Caitlin was really a catalyst to bringing in a lot of new fans, as well as our other rookies, who came in through NCAA into this draft. It’s been an amazing draft class to watch.”

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The WNBA tried to get ahead of what has become unprecedented viewership numbers for the league. It started its marketing campaign during the NCAA women’s basketball tournament for the first time, and put 36 of the Fever’s 40 games on national television even before Indiana officially drafted Clark with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft.

WNBA Chief Marketing Officer Phil Cook said the league is trying to bring in distinct groups of fans. Those include general basketball fans, who may watch NBA or college basketball regularly, as well as fans who mainly pay attention to those big moments, like NBA Finals or Super Bowl, and casual fans who want to be part of the conversation.

And these new types of fans are tuning in to see Clark get the first triple-double by a rookie or dish out a WNBA-record 19 assists in a single game.

“The audience we really wanted to connect with this year was the audience that loves basketball, or loves big sport moments, or is just a casual sports fan,” Cook told IndyStar. “And when you put performances like that, on the board, it gets them interested. They turn their head and say, ’19 assists in a 40-minute game in the W? That’s incredible.’ These numbers are, like, unprecedented, and I think the loyalist has said, ‘Oh yeah, our game has been this good for 20 years, you just haven’t been watching.'”

The viewership records started before Clark even played her first professional minute. The WNBA draft brought in a record 2.4 million viewers in April, shattering the previous record of 601,000 that was set in 2004 — when UConn’s Diana Taurasi was drafted to the Phoenix Mercury.

Those records haven’t stopped as the league moves into the Olympic break for the 2024 Paris Games. The Fever’s season-opening game against Connecticut, Clark’s first game as a professional, set an ESPN2 viewership record with 2.12 million viewers tuning in.

Indiana’s final game before the Olympic break against the Dallas Wings saw 1.7 million viewers, making it the 16th WNBA game this season with over 1 million people tuning in — already a new league record. Fourteen of those 16 games included Clark and the Fever, according to Sports Media Watch.

The Fever’s top two most-watched games have also come with the help of another rookie: Chicago Sky‘s Angel Reese. Clark and Reese have been seen as rivals dating back to their college days, when Reese’s LSU took down Clark’s Iowa in the 2023 national championship. The rivalry only strengthened when they were drafted to teams just three hours apart, and the two frontrunners for Rookie of the Year now play four times a season as Eastern Conference foes.

The second matchup between the Fever and Sky on June 16 drew record viewership for a WNBA game on CBS with 2.25 million viewers. The rematch just a week later set another viewership record on ESPN with 2.3 million viewers.

“The quality of play coming into our league, led by Caitlin, led by an Angel, is being seen across all those athletes and I’m impressed by just how how seamlessly they’re fitting into what I thought was gonna be a tougher transition,” Cook said. “But it is not, and I think every fan is very impressed, and the media is very impressed.”

The Fever have also sold out nearly every away game. Indiana ranks first in overall attendance with an average of 16,698 fans in Gainbridge Fieldhouse — just 1,000 below a sold-out crowd. It’s a significant jump from the Fever’s average of around 4,000 fans just a year ago.

“We’re starting to recognize just how talented these athletes are, and they’re attending our games live because attendance is — you know, you’re from Indianapolis — those games are a crazy tough ticket,” Cook said. “… the work that these athletes are doing on the court is translating to an audience that appreciates great sport, great basketball, and even the casual fan.”

Clark and Reese’s following has elevated the WNBA as a whole. The two rookies were a part of the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game, which set a viewership record with 3.4 million viewers — up 305% from 2023.

And the league’s broadcast partners are taking notice.

The Athletic reported last week the WNBA is finalizing an 11 year, $2.2 billion media rights deal that would pay the league $200 million per year — up from $60 million it is currently getting. While the deal is reportedly made in partnership with the NBA’s new media deal, the WNBA can add up to $60 million more per year in separate media deals and would have the chance to renegotiate after three years after evaluating the growth of the league.

“I think the partners are recognizing the value of what this audience brings to their platforms,” Cook said. “We are a distinctive audience. This isn’t just the same fans that are watching all sports. We have this distinctive audience, our athletes deliver distinctive products. They have a great intersection of, you know, being the best athletes in the world, as well as being the most culturally influential individual viewpoints in the world. And this combination makes it very attractive to the broadcast partners.”

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Caitlin Clark shattering WNBA viewership, attendance, rookie records