Along with a new and improved location for the draft, the WNBA’s ratings fortunes for the draft also were new and improved.
Per an ESPN press release, ratings for the draft’s coverage on ESPN2 and ESPNU saw figures not seen since the 2014 draft – when Chiney Ogwumike was selected first overall.
The release touts how 308,000 viewed the first round of the draft on ESPN2, which included the selections of A’ja Wilson to the Las Vegas Aces, Diamond DeShields to the Chicago Sky, Kelsey Mitchell and Victoria Vivians to the Indiana Fever, and a trio of UConn players getting selected.
The combined average viewership for the draft was 212,000 – a 25 percent increase from last season’s draft which saw Kelsey Plum get selected first overall out of Washington.
Figures increased nearly 50 percent for the second and third rounds overall 2017’s draft as well.
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
