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WNBA Draft 2025 Headlined by Paige Bueckers Saw Second-Highest Viewership Numbers
The 2025 WNBA draft on Monday night saw the second-highest viewership numbers in league history.
The ESPN broadcast averaged 1.25 million viewers and peaked at 1.46 million. This is an 119% increase from the 2023 WNBA draft. It's only the second time in WNBA draft history when the viewership numbers were over one million. But the 2025 viewership numbers still sit quite a bit behind last year's results, as Caitlin Clark's being the No. 1 draft pick in '24 was a big draw to bring in 2.45 million average viewers, seeing a 307% increase from the year prior.
This year, Paige Bueckers headlined the draft as she was selected No. 1 by the Dallas Wings.
It'll be interesting to see what WNBA viewership looks like during the 2025 season after the league saw historic numbers last season. The draft's viewership results look promising for the rest of the season.
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Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.