The final episode of this season’s The Caitlin Clark Show aired Sunday with historic success.
A record-breaking 18.7 million viewers watched the women’s NCAA title game between the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Carolina Gamecocks Sunday afternoon, which is not only more viewers than any women’s final ever, but is more than any men’s final since 2019 (when 19.6 million watched Virginia beat Texas Tech) and more than any NBA final since 2016 (when 24.5 million watched the Golden State Warriors defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And while it is true that some women’s sports are gaining in viewership generally — women’s softball and volleyball viewership are also up — it was undoubtedly true that this season’s NCAA tournament numbers were driven almost entirely by Clark.
The most watched games of the tournament all featured Clark. Her semifinal game against UConn outdrew South Carolina’s semifinal game 14.2 million to 7.1 million, and her regional final game against LSU outdrew the next closest regional final 12.3 million to 6.7 million.
And Clark’s ratings dominance did not begin in the tournament. More than 3.4 million watched her set the NCAA scoring record at Ohio State earlier this year, and another 4.4 million watched her beat Nebraska in the Big Ten tournament.
At the collegiate level, Clark has clearly established herself as a ratings behemoth, and she deserves every bit of the reported $3.1 million she has earned selling her name, image, and likeness rights.
But while Clark’s Hawkeyes have been drawing millions of viewers per game this March, not a single WNBA game last season cracked more than 1 million viewers, including the WNBA Finals.
Clark is not going to keep getting new endorsements if no one is watching her.
Clark’s current endorsements will not dry up immediately, and she will surely sign more as she profits from her current fame. But name recognition-wise, it is all downhill from here. Clark will never be more well known than she is today.
And it is not her fault.
Women’s college basketball is simply immensely more popular than the WNBA because it is made up of existing brands that people already have strong emotional connections to. As Noah Henderson writes for Fan Nation:
“Women’s college teams have been able to exploit the iconography and legacy of their universities athletic department as a whole to tap into the tribalism of their schools fanbase. Playing under the same logo as teams who have traditionally held vast media attention and built strong brand value has allowed seamless transition of football and men’s basketball fans into the women’s college game.”
The same is not true for the WNBA:
“For valid reasons, WNBA franchises chose to have independent identities from NBA teams. The Knicks, Pacers, and Suns have developed deeply rooted brands that have integrated themselves into the very fabric of their respective cities in ways that the Liberty, Fever, and Mercury have been unable to accomplish. The lack of brand recognition and cultural integration within their respective markets causes the WNBA to suffer in fan engagement.”
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Maybe Clark can do what no player has accomplished before and elevate WNBA ratings to NCAA levels. If she can, that would be a historic accomplishment.
If not, she is still a historic player who has elevated the women’s tournament to new heights and she will be handsomely rewarded for that accomplishment.