With a record 2.45 million viewers tuning in on Monday night to watch ESPN's coverage of the WNBA draft, the Caitlin Clark experience delivered yet another television milestone.
The peak viewership was 3.09 million, according to an announcement from ESPN on Tuesday.
Comparing the audience to the 2023 draft, which drew 572,000 viewers, more than four times as many people watched.
When Diana Taurasi of UConn went first overall in 2004, the previous draft record was 601,000.
The New York Liberty game against the now-defunct Houston Comets drew an average audience of 2.74 million viewers on NBC on Memorial Day in 2000, the greatest viewership for a WNBA telecast since that year.
The reason for the large turnout on Monday was Iowan athlete Clark, a generational talent who has introduced thousands of new fans to the game.
In the women's NCAA championship game this year, Iowa and Clark faced South Carolina; the show on ESPN averaged a record 18.7 million people.
The Indiana Fever, who will have maximum exposure this WNBA season with 36 of their 40 games aired by the league's national broadcast and streaming partners, selected Clark first overall.