(Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images) Grant Afseth · Roundtable Sports Tue, November 3, 2026 at 7:43 PM UTC · 4 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Golden State Valkyries' 68-63 win over the Atlanta Dream in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals drew 3.3 million viewers Saturday night on USA Network, CNBC, and Peacock, according to preliminary numbers.
Front Office Sports' Colin Salao reported the figure Tuesday , citing a source and Nielsen and Adobe Analytics data, with final numbers expected later in the day.
"If the viewership number holds, it would be the most-watched WNBA game, regular-season or postseason, since the league's inaugural season in 1997," Salao wrote.
USA Network and CNBC carried five of the seven Finals games in Versant's first season with WNBA rights.
"We're also very pleased with our first WNBA season on USA and CNBC," Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said on the company's third-quarter earnings call Tuesday morning. "We aired the most national games of any broadcaster, and regular season cable viewership was up 25% compared to last year. And just on Saturday, we crowned the WNBA champion as Game 7 aired on USA Network, with a preliminary number of 3.3 million viewers, a great success."
The Dream missed their first 9 shots at Chase Center. Angel Reese's putback with 4:41 left in the first quarter got them on the board, and by halftime Atlanta was up 30-24.
Gabby Williams scored Golden State's last 13 points of the third quarter. The Valkyries won the period 21-14.
With 34.2 seconds left, Allisha Gray hit a 3 to make it 64-60. Her free throws at the 10.5-second mark pulled Atlanta within three.
Williams finished with 30 points, 28 of them after halftime, and took Finals MVP for a franchise that won the title in its second season .
"Gabby is our closer, she stayed patient, she stayed with it," Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said, according to The Associated Press. "Closing with 30, that is incredible!"
Jordin Canada scored 18 for Atlanta. The Dream shot 6-of-30 from 3-point range.
Salao posted the full game-by-game breakdown at 12:53 p.m. ET Tuesday in a follow-up on X .
"Based on the current numbers: 1.89M average for seven games, most-watched WNBA Finals ever," Salao wrote. "G1: 2.1M (NBC, Peacock). G2: 1.33M (USA, CNBC, Peacock). G3: 1.71M (USA, CNBC, Peacock). G4: 1.9M (NBC, Peacock). G5: 1.4M (USA, CNBC, Peacock). G6: 1.5M (USA, E!, SYFY, Peacock). G7: 3.3M (USA, CNBC, Peacock)."
NBC Sports called its Game 1 audience on Oct. 17, a 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday tip, the largest ever for a Finals opener.
Game 6 was a Thursday matinee in Atlanta. It tipped at 12:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena, and the Dream won 80-69 after leading by as many as 25.
Golden State got it back to single digits late in the fourth quarter.
"Games 2 and 3 were ugly, and we quit," Valkyries guard Veronica Burton said after Game 6, according to Just Women's Sports. "We didn't quit on this one."
USA Sports put that afternoon audience at 1.5 million across USA Network, E!, Syfy, and Peacock. The network said that topped the 2025 Finals clincher, a primetime game, by 4%.
Back on Aug. 23, Caitlin Clark scored 37 in the Indiana Fever's 113-90 win over the Chicago Sky. That game averaged 3.31 million viewers on NBC and Peacock.
According to NBC Sports, no regular-season game had drawn that many since 1997.
"I think it's just like super cool," Clark said of the league's ratings on Kylie Kelce's "Not Gonna Lie" podcast before Game 7. "Even when I was in college, I think you don't always realize how many people are actually watching and turning on the TV."
NBC aired both games of the league's 1997 opening weekend, the only regular-season games to draw more than Fever-Sky. The New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks drew 5.04 million on June 21, and the Charlotte Sting and Phoenix Mercury drew 3.59 million the next day.
Before this century, three WNBA games topped 3 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch. The third came in Game 3 of the 1999 Finals, when the Houston Comets beat the Liberty for their third straight title in front of 3.25 million viewers.
If the preliminary Game 7 figure holds, it would surpass that 1999 Finals audience.
The 2027 season will be the second of USA Network's 11-year deal with the league.
Source: Sports
0 Comments