sports Viewership Surges: NHL, WNBA, Cricket, and More see Record Numbers in 2025
The sports landscape continues to evolve, and recent viewership data from late 2025 paints a picture of robust growth and shifting audience habits. From hockey to basketball, cricket to motorsports, several leagues are experiencing meaningful gains, driven by innovative broadcasting strategies and passionate fan bases. Let’s dive into the key highlights.
NHL Opening night Sees Major Boost
ESPN‘s coverage of the 2025/26 NHL season opener delivered a significant win for the league and broadcaster. Average viewership jumped 37% year-over-year, reaching 768,000 viewers.
The Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers matchup was a standout, attracting 1.09 million viewers – the second-highest opening night audience since 2023. This rebound is particularly encouraging after a 39% decline last year. It’s critically important to note these figures reflect the first full season utilizing Nielsen’s updated measurement methodology.
ESPN and Warner Bros.Revelation (WBD) jointly hold the US NHL rights in a US$4.4 billion, seven-year deal extending to 2028. ESPN leverages this partnership by airing select games on ABC and integrating NHL out-of-market content into ESPN+.
🚨 HUGE numbers for the NHL on ESPN! 🚨
the NHL Opening Night doubleheader averaged 768K viewers – up 37% from last year! 🏒
Penguins-Rangers peaked at 1.4M viewers! 🤩
More: pic.twitter.com/3PL3W6Lq9V
– ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 9,2025
WNBA Finals Continue to Captivate
The WNBA Finals continued its upward trajectory,averaging 1.5 million viewers across ESPN and ABC. This marks the second-highest viewership for the series since 2000, just shy of last year’s 1.6 million.
Notably, all four games in the 2025 Finals averaged over one million viewers. This is only the third WNBA Finals to achieve this feat, following the landmark years of 1998 and 2024. You’re witnessing a league gaining significant momentum.
Global Cricket Reaches New Heights
The 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup is breaking records on a global scale. The first 13 matches drew over 60 million viewers worldwide.
The India vs. Pakistan clash alone captivated 28.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched women’s international cricket match ever. This demonstrates the growing international appeal of women’s cricket.
WWE & Motorsports See Strong Performance
* WWE Raw on Netflix: Since its debut on netflix in January, WWE Raw is averaging 6.5 million viewing hours. Netflix’s broader WWE content offering – including SmackDown and premium live events (outside the US) – contributed to a massive 300 million viewing hours in the first half of 2025.
* NHRA’s Record-Breaking Broadcast: The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) delivered its most-watched broadcast in history. The Texas FallNationals averaged 2.07 million viewers, peaking at 3.63 million on Fox.
* Motorsport Leadership: The NHRA outperformed other US motorsport series in viewership. NASCAR’s cup Series playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on USA Network averaged 1.7 million viewers.