Electrifying WNBA Finals sets massive records in attendance, social media

Did someone say WNBA Finals de-ja-vu? Emotions ran high as the Minnesota Lynx, and the Los Angeles Sparks faced off again in a hotly contest Game 5 of the 2017 WNBA Finals, but this time, the Lynx took back to Championship title from the Sparks, 85-76, to win their fourth title in seven years.

With the two highest ranked teams in the league having a repeat battle for the championship title, the 2017 WNBA Finals made ESPN History becoming the third-most viewed championship series.

Attendance for this postseason rose to a whopping 9,596 spectators per game, which made it the highest-attended WNBA Finals in seven years (10,822), and was up double digits (+10.1%) over last season (8,719).

Those watching on the edge of their seats at home on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 help make this the third-most viewed championship series, averaging 559,000 viewers for the five-game series since the networks began exclusively televising the Finals in 2003. This years duel in Game 5 became the fifth most-watched WNBA postseason game for the networks’ 18-years of playoffs and also Finals coverage, averaging 902,200 viewers.

But that’s not all… New records were set across social media platforms during the WNBA postseason with 246 million impressions (+33.9%), 47 million video views (+109.6%) and 20 million actions (+161.2%) over the 2016 season. As if that weren’t enough records for this postseason, merchandise sales increased 38% from last year.

It was a record-breaking season for the Lynx, but it was a historical season for the WNBA league as a whole, and forecasts what excitement is yet to come in the 2018 season.