Last season, the WNBA was a success from the day it drafted Caitlin Clark with the first overall pick in the most-watched draft in history. The success continued with the most-watched All-Star Game ever against Team USA, which won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris, and ended as the most-watched season overall, with the highest television ratings, more sellouts, higher merchandise sales and the biggest draw in the league’s 28-year history. This was also the most-watched regular season ever across ESPN platforms, averaging 1.19 million viewers, a 170% increase over last season.
Again, much, if not all, of that has to do with Clark, whose debut game drew 2.1 million viewers and her final game as a rookie averaged 2.5 million viewers, the most-watched WNBA game on cable. Both numbers are a far cry from the 18.9 million who watched her last NCAA game, the national championship game against South Carolina and Kamilla Cardoso, who was also taken third overall in last years draft. Also far from the 9.9 million who watched the 2023 National Championship game against Angel Reese, who is the second most famous player from the 2020 NCAA recruiting class, but who will likely drop to third this season with the arrival of first overall pick Paige Bueckers, although social media followers tell a different story.
Clark vs. Reese: Influence On and Off the Court
On the court, Clark seems to be the most influential figure in women’s basketball, and off the court as well, attending Chiefs playoff games as a special guest of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, frequently attending NBA games, and even being invited by the NFL to promote flag football for the next Olympics. Despite all of this, Angel Reese leads Clark in social media followers by more than 1.7 million on Instagram.
Though Clark and Reese are very different types of people, they have been linked since the 2023 NCAA National Championship Game, when Reese taunted Clark in the closing moments of LSU’s win over Iowa and became the subject of much debate.
The reality is that while Reese may have more followers, she doesn’t have the same influence as Clark, and the difference is that Reese has worked much harder to build her follower base, sharing content almost daily, jumping on trends, and even having her podcast “Unapologetically” where she has different guests each week. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with what Reese is doing, but it reflects two very different personalities on and off the court. If Clark wanted to, I have no doubt she could surpass Reese in followers, but for now, it doesn’t seem to be something that appeals to the 23-year-old and reigning Rookie of the Year.
Clark is often not on social media, she doesn’t share many things except paid posts from sponsors or reposting some of the Fever’s posts about her. At some point in her career, I think this will change because she’s missing out on an excellent opportunity to generate more money through social media, just like Resse and almost every top athlete does these days.
The Upcoming Fever vs. Sky Matchup
Caitlin Clark averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists, which led to her receiving 66 of the 67 votes for Rookie of the Year. The one vote she did not receive went to Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese. In any other season, Reese’s 13.6 points and WNBA-record 13.1 rebounds per game would likely have won her the award. But while Reese’s rookie season ended with no playoffs and after 34 games due to a wrist injury, Clark led the Fever to their first playoff appearance in seven seasons and their best season in terms of wins since 2015.
For the upcoming season, Reese and Clark will meet in the first game of the season for the Fever and the Sky on Saturday, May 17, at the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls, as the Sky are one of six teams (Atlanta, Connecticut, Dallas, Las Vegas, Washington) that have changed venues for games against Clark’s Fever. This kind of movement isn’t generated by Reese with her social media, but by Clark with her high level of basketball that entertains everyone. This first game is sure to break attendance records.
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