WNBA soars to historic highs for TV ratings and attendance

• Investors are finally taking notice of the business opportunity around women's sports due to the historic levels of viewership and engagement, Axios' Sara Fischer notes.

By the numbers: Some 400,000 fans attended the league's games since the tip of the season through the end of May, per the WNBA.

• More than half of all WNBA games were sellouts — a 156% increase from last year.
• And WNBA arenas were filled to a 94% capacity — up 17% from last year.
• Across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS, WNBA games were averaging 1.32 million viewers — which the league noted was nearly tripling last season's average of 462,000 viewers.

Stunning stat: "WNBA social channels garnered 157 million video views through the first week of the season, the most viewed WNBA tip-off week on social media ever and up 380% vs. last year," per the league.

What they're saying: "From preseason through the end of May, the 2024 rookie class contributed meaningfully on the court and continued to drive fan engagement," the WNBA said in its statement.

• "Throughout Tip-off Week, four of the five moments that drove the most engagement on social channels featured highlights of Indiana Fever's Caitlin Clark, Chicago Sky's Angel Reese, Los Angeles Sparks's Cameron Brink or Las Vegas Aces' Kate Martin," it added.
• "WNBA merchandise sales are seeing a 236% increase year-over-year, with Clark, Reese and Brink ranking in the top five for jersey sales during the first week of the season."

Go deeper: "Game-changing": Toronto lands WNBA expansion team