The WNBA’s 30th season has produced another major step forward for the league, with new television and consumption records highlighting the continued growth of women’s basketball.
According to figures released by the WNBA, more than 90 million unique viewers watched league coverage across national television networks during the 2026 regular season, the highest total in league history. The milestone came during a year in which the WNBA expanded both its schedule and its national media presence.
The number of individual broadcasts reaching major audience benchmarks also increased significantly. A record 51 WNBA telecasts averaged at least one million viewers, compared with 19 during the 2025 season. Nine broadcasts surpassed an average audience of two million, more than double the four that reached that level one year earlier.
Perhaps the clearest indication of the league’s overall consumption growth came in total viewing time. Fans watched more than 320 million hours of WNBA coverage during the regular season, another all-time league record.
The growth was spread across several different broadcasters rather than being concentrated on one network. ABC averaged 1.56 million viewers for its WNBA broadcasts, its best season ever, while CBS set its own record with a 1.27 million average. ESPN averaged 1.24 million viewers, up 32 percent from 2025. NBC’s return to WNBA coverage produced an average audience of 1.75 million, its best WNBA season since 1998.
Several individual games also delivered major audiences. The August 23 matchup between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever averaged 3.31 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, making it the league’s most-watched regular-season game since the WNBA’s inaugural weekend in 1997. An Atlanta Dream–Indiana Fever game on ESPN drew 2.6 million viewers, setting a new WNBA record for both ESPN and cable television overall.
The postseason has continued that momentum. The opening round of the 2026 playoffs averaged 1.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched first round in WNBA history.
The numbers come during a transformative season for the league. The WNBA expanded to 15 teams in 2026 with the arrival of the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, played a record 330 regular-season games and entered the first season of a dramatically expanded national media package featuring ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, CBS, Prime Video, ION, USA Network and NBA TV.
Television was not the only area of growth. The league also reported record attendance of 3.8 million fans, 212 regular-season sellouts and approximately four billion views across its social-media channels.
Thirty seasons after the league began play, the latest figures show that the WNBA is no longer simply setting incremental records. Its audience is becoming substantially larger across television, streaming, arenas and digital platforms, with the 2026 season establishing several new benchmarks at once.
