The Las Vegas Aces pulled off the 10th-ever sweep in WNBA Finals history last week by beating the Phoenix Mercury 4–0 in the series.
The Finals alone brought in the second-highest viewership numbers since 2000, only trailing last year's Finals between the Liberty and the Lynx, which went to five games. This year's series saw an average of 1.5 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, per ESPN PR, and last year's saw 1.6 million viewers on average.
Game 1 alone was the most watched Finals opener in 28 years as it saw an average of 1.9 million viewers. The Aces won 89-86 to open the series.
As for the WNBA postseason in general, ESPN recorded its highest viewership numbers since the network has been hosting the league's playoffs. From 24 postseason games total this year, ESPN averaged 1.2 million viewers, which is up 5% from last year.
Viewership across sports has increased because of the changes Nielsen data made to calculate the numbers. In 2020, Nielsen expanded the out-of-home viewership to cover 100% of markets, per Sports Media Watch. Additionally, the company uses data from set-top boxes and smart TVs when adding up viewership numbers.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as WNBA 2025 Playoffs, Finals Series Between Aces–Mercury Draws in Historic Viewership.
