USA Today's article had something to impress: according to the American daily, which was based on the data of Nielsen, the TV audience of WNBA matches had dropped by 55% since the injury of Caitlin Clark !
The fall for the audience of the fever matches is similar, namely 53%, with 1,810,000 viewers on average before the injury of the Indiana star, against 847,000 since. However, the devil is in detail, and the observation is still more nuanced when taking into account the channels on which the matches are broadcast.
Three of the four of the four games played this season by Caitlin Clark were broadcast on CBS and ABC, national channels, while three of the four games played without it (and of which we have the audiences) were however broadcast on NBA TV and Ion, cable channels to the much smaller target.
By comparing the matches broadcast on similar channels, we see that the difference is still less significant than announced. The last duel between the Fever and the Sky, without Caitlin Clark, attracted 1.92 million viewers on CBS, a very good score for the WNBA. It is much less than the record (2.7 million) signed for the opening of the season between the two teams, but the decline is around 29%, not 55%…
The drop in interest therefore seems to be closer to a third than half, since the bookmakers also record a drop in bets of around 37% on the fever games since the injury of Caitlin Clark. Even a little nuanced, the drop in interest in the WNBA without its figurehead is still very impressive.
