Unrivaled's Viewership Numbers Raise Early Red Flags

Originally posted on Women's Fastbreak on SI
By Grant Young | Last updated Jan 8, 2026 2:59 PM ET

Unrivaled had an objectively successful debut season in 2025. There was a lot of interest in how the league would fare, given that many of the world's best women's basketball players were competing in it. And all those invested in Unrivaled in one way or another would likely say that this first season delivered.

However, perhaps even more telling is how the league will do in its 2026 season, which started on January 5. The novelty and curiosity factor from last year has now worn off, and several top stars from last season (including Angel Reese and Sabrina Ionescu) aren't playing, and neither are Caitlin Clark or A'ja Wilson.

That said, there are still plenty of superstars competing in the league, and the quality of play is top-tier. But the ratings will tell the clearest picture of what the hype around Unrivaled would look like.

Early Unrivaled ratings don't look good

On January 7, TV Ratings Guide released the viewership metrics for shows and programs that aired on January 5.

When it came to Unrivaled, the game between Breeze BC and Phantom BC got a 0.04 in the 18-49 viewers age range through TNT. In plain speak, this means that 0.04% of all U.S. adults ages 18–49 were watching that Unrivaled game. Since there are around 130-140 million people in that age range, this means that this Unrivaled game had about 52,000 viewers.

The game between Rose BC and Lunar Owls BC did even worse, as it had a 0.03. This meant it had around 39,000 viewers on TNT, and another 26,000 or so on TruTV.

Unrivaled ratings for Monday, January 5th. 40,000 viewers. pic.twitter.com/4BaChdZxFE
— Mongo Slade (@MongoSlade84) January 8, 2026

In contrast, Unrivaled's opening weekend last year averaged over 300,000 viewers for the first two games. The viewership peaked at 364,000 total. Viewership declined as the season progressed, but it was never as poor as it was on Monday. And given that viewership declined progressively last season, one would imagine that the same would occur this season, as well.

Of course, this would be owed to several things. Much of the broader sports world is focused on the college football playoffs and the NFL right now, and the upcoming Olympics are sure to get a bunch of attention. Not to mention that the ongoing WNBA CBA negotiations are taking some steam out of women's basketball as a whole.

Still, these are objectively poor viewership ratings, especially for an opening weekend. And this raises some red flags about Unrivaled moving forward this season.

This article first appeared on Women's Fastbreak on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: