The 2023 WNBA All-Star Game is proof of the increasing popularity of women's basketball worldwide.
The broadcast of this year's edition of the annual exhibition game aired on primetime on ABC for the first time on Saturday, and it drew its largest audience in 16 years, averaging 850,000 viewers and peaking at 955,000, per Front Office Sports.
Saturday's #WNBA All-Star game in primetime on ABC was the most-watched in 16 years
🏀 850K viewers (+16% vs. 2022)
🏀 986K viewers watched the WNBA Countdown pregame
🏀 Friday's Skills Challenge/3PT Contest on ESPN was +43% pic.twitter.com/BJCGFbSczT— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) July 18, 2023
Friday's festivities, which included one of the greatest Three-Point Contest performances ever in any league from New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu, averaged 288,000 viewers on ESPN. It is a 43 percent increase from last year's edition that was re-aired on ESPN2.
The league's games on ESPN averaged 546,000 viewers this season so far, an 18 percent increase from the same time last year.
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Team Stewart outmatches Team Wilson
The format of the WNBA All-Star Game is similar to the NBA, wherein the top two fan vote-getters will be named captain of their respective teams and will draft their players from a pool voted by fans, coaches, players, and media.
Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson and New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart received the highest fan votes for the second straight year, and this time, Team Stewart came out on top, 143-127.
Seattle Storm guard Jewell Lloyd was named All-Star Game MVP, putting up 31 points in 10 threes, alongside 4 rebounds, and 6 assists.
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