Ion bags WNBA on Friday nights as network touts benefits of appointment viewing

The GIST: On Friday, Scripps-owned network Ion Television renewed its media rights agreement with the WNBA nearly a year after the league inked a joint multinetwork package alongside the NBA. Despite the WNBA’s attainment of expensive, major network deals, there’s still considerable value in what Ion uniquely brings to the table: A distinct audience and capacity for appointment viewing.

• These qualities aren’t just a crucial negotiating tactic for up-and-coming sports networks like Ion — they’re also essential for the W as it looks to grow viewership and make games accessible. Easy buckets.

The details: While the financial details and deal length remain unknown, the extension builds on Ion’s initial three-year deal worth $13M annually. The 2023 deal was an important step in the W being able to leverage its media rights value separately from the NBA: It was the league’s second traditional TV deal outside of its joint NBA agreement with ESPN/ABC.

The trend: Appointment viewing has long been a concept in men’s sports, especially in the NFL, where competing networks carve out specific days, but its application in women’s sports is newer. Since 2023, Ion has offered WNBA doubleheaders on Friday nights, which has drawn W fans to the network to watch these games weekly.

• Last season, Ion’s viewership for its Friday night doubleheaders increased 133% YoY, attracting 23.4M unique viewers and 670K on average. The network kept that same energy in 2025: Paige Bueckers’ debut drew an average 639K viewers; the Golden State Valkyries’ first game nabbed 581K; and an Indiana Fever–Connecticut Sun matchup drew 851K.

The selling point: With women’s sports traditionally split across viewing sources, having secure appointment viewing on specific networks helps fans remain keyed in on when to watch. Moreover, Ion is able to offer something ESPN can’t: It’s not strictly a sports network, which exposes casual viewers to the W, something Ion remained optimistic about during last year’s negotiations.

Zooming out: As appointment viewing becomes more widespread in women’s sports, brands should consider becoming associated with these consistent moments. While Thursday Night Football has been an NFL institution for years, Amazon Prime recently built around it with a proprietary logo and studio show, which has been followed by increased viewership.

• When it comes to Friday nights on Ion, State Farm has already jumped into the mix, but there’s still room for other brands to activate around Ion’s unique studio show the way brands like Subway, Allstate, and JCPenney have done for Thursday Night Football. This is how we do it.