A 750% growth over the 2018 FIBA Women’s World Cup Finals: That is how much the 2026 Finals recorded for the USA versus France matchup. It’s no secret that Caitlin Clark’s arrival has uplifted the WNBA with record viewership numbers, and Christine Brennan, who wrote a biography on the Indiana Fever star, believes the Caitlin Clark effect has spilled over to the international level as well, as evidenced by the FIBA viewership surge.
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“The opportunities to grow women’s basketball in the U.S. and around the world increase dramatically when Caitlin Clark is on the U.S. team. Every metric tells us that. Clark will likely be a mainstay on the U.S. team for as long as she wants to play. That’s great for women’s BB,” wrote Brennan in an X post, citing TNT Sports’ viewership data.
TNT Sports revealed on Tuesday that it recorded the five most-watched FIBA Women’s World Cup games in this tournament, and all involved Team USA.
The USA versus France final was watched by an average of 1.2 million viewers, and peaked at 1.5 million. This made it the third most-watched FIBA Women’s World Cup game ever and represented a staggering 158% growth over the 2022 Women’s World Cup final and 750% growth over the 2018 Women’s World Cup final.
The semifinal featuring Team USA and Spain was watched by an average of 938,000 viewers, making it the fourth most-watched Women’s World Cup game ever.
The top two spots were occupied by USA’s group stage matches, with its near 55-52 scare against Italy taking the top spot, averaging 1.3 million viewers and peaking at 1.7 million. This game rewrote the broadcast record books as both the most-watched FIBA Women’s World Cup matchup of all time and the biggest women’s basketball audience ever delivered on TNT Sports.
In second place was Team USA’s last group stage clash against Czechia, which narrowly missed eclipsing the record-setting audience from its previous contest against Italy. Drawing an average of 1.2 million viewers with a peak of 1.4 million, the broadcast solidified its place as the second most-watched game in FIBA Women’s World Cup history.
Craig Barry, the executive vice president and chief content officer for TNT Sports, hailed women’s sports after witnessing such viewership growth.
“It’s a little bit of the planets aligning,” said Barry. “It’s not just this great FIBA World Cup tournament, but women’s sports coming into the spotlight the last three or four years.”
USA’s opening game against China on September 3 saw an average of 577k viewers on TNT Sports, with a peak viewership of 694k, which, at the time, made it the third most-watched FIBA Women’s World Cup game ever and also the third most-watched Women’s basketball game ever on TNT Sports at the time.
Caitlin Clark was the joint highest scorer for Team USA in this game, with 14 points.
Speaking before the World Cup Final, FIBA secretary Andreas Zagklis echoed a similar point as Christine Brennan, highlighting the role of Caitlin Clark in popularizing women’s basketball not just in the US, but globally.
“I think what these players, Caitlin, one of them, have done in increasing the popularity of the women’s game is incredible. We should feel very proud about them,” said Zagklis in a press conference before the final. “And I can tell you, my team and I have been supportive of what USA Basketball and each and every national member federation coming into the World Cup had planned for their promotion. And we tried to amplify that experience. They themselves, the players said this is a unique moment for them.”
“I can tell you that the popularity of our women’s game, of Caitlin as one of the biggest stars, not the biggest star of this generation, has done. We see this with Iyana Martin from Spain, MVP of the under-19 in 2023. And she signed a big sponsorship agreement herself just with a FIBA partner two days before the tournament.”
While Caitlin Clark might not be the singular factor behind this growth in women’s basketball, she is a major contributor. For the fans, such commercial growth only means they get to watch more and more of their favorite players like Clark in the years to come.