Without Clark, Fever audiences drop about 24 percent.

By Ben Tom George

The WNBA just wrapped its most successful season in league history, and no one is more responsible for that than star Indiana Fever point guard Caitlin Clark, according to a new analysis by media intelligence firm Samba.

WNBA games featuring Clark drew audiences 2.6 times larger than WNBA games not featuring the Fever, Samba data finds.

The Clark games were compared to other WNBA games broadcast on the same network, at similar tipoff times and points in the season, to account for the marquee timeslots for Fever games and provide a like-for-like comparison.

Clark’s popularity is clearly national, because her lift held at 2.5 times even when removing Indianapolis households. Fans in the Fever’s home market make up only 4.4 percent of the audience for Clark games versus 1.7 percent for non-Fever games.

Clark, not the Fever, is the main draw

It was Clark herself, not the Fever, that was the main draw for these games. In the four games Clark missed this season, audiences were only 1.9 times larger than non-Fever WNBA games, a 24 percent drop from games in which Clark played.

In fact, 17 of the WNBA’s 20 most-watched regular season games were Clark games. The single most watched game was the August 23 broadcast between the Fever and the Chicago Sky, which drew 2.9 times the audience of comparable games in its slot.

The most viewed game without the Fever ranked only 17th: ESPN’s August 16 telecast of the Portland Fire at the Phoenix Mercury.

The Fever were a draw with or without their star, but Clark turned them into the league’s biggest TV event.

Clark draws audiences across every network

The Clark Effect was evident on every network that aired WNBA games. Each network saw a significant audience bump when it broadcast Clark games.

With Clark’s next contract negotiation looming, the question is whether Indiana or another team will build around the league’s biggest star. This queen of the ratings is only 24, and her audience shows no sign of fading. Long may “The Point Goddess” reign.