WNBA Tip-Off 2025: Scripps Sports' Friday Night Spotlight' Features More Games, Dedicated Studio Show on ION The coverage saw a 133% boost in viewership in its second season By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Friday, May 16, 2025 - 2:51 pm
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Since launching exactly 2 years ago, Scripps Sports has put the WNBA - and women's pro sports in general - at the core of its programming strategy. After State Farm WNBA Friday Night Spotlight debuted on ION in 2023, Scripps saw viewership increase by a whopping 133% last season and attracted more than 23 million unique viewers across its games and studio shows.
Last season, Scripps also launched the WNBA on ION studio show, the first weekly game broadcast studio show dedicated to the WNBA, housed in newly built studio space at its production facility in Atlanta. Between the big viewership numbers for live game coverage and its continued commitment to dedicated studio programming, Scripps has big expectations for this season.
We are very proud of our team and are thrilled to be bringing everyone back, says Quinn S. Pacini, VP, operations, Scripps Sports. Everyone in front of the camera and behind it has returned.
On the Court: ION's TGIF Lineup Is All About the W ION is set to broadcast 50 regular games this season, the most of any WNBA broadcaster and up from 43 last year, as part of its State Farm WNBA Friday Night Spotlight series of doubleheaders.
As was the case the past two seasons, Rush Media will produce all of ION's WNBA broadcasts in collaboration with the Scripps Sports team. Pacini, President Brian Lawlor, and Executive Producer Nicole Denne conduct weekly pre-production meetings with the live-services provider to strategize for ION's Friday broadcasts with an emphasis on all-access coverage during games.
We've had great success having a courtside correspondent to bring fans closer to the action, says Pacini, and we will do more of that this season.
Although tonight marks the official launch of the 2025 regular-season slate, Scripps' WNBA Friday Night Spotlight on ION launched on May 2 with a doubleheader of preseason games, representing the first-ever nationally televised preseason contests in league history.
In both games, star players were returning to their college home courts: No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings took on the Las Vegas Aces at the University of Notre Dame's Purcell Pavilion at Joyce Center, WNBA All-Star Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky played the Brazilian National Team at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on the campus of LSU.
Our preseason telecast of the Aces-Wings game, the first-ever national preseason broadcast for the WNBA, went amazingly well, says Pacini. We supported it with a special one-hour studio show and had Kylen Mills onsite at Notre Dame sideline reporting and interviewing people such as Paige and others. It was a big hit.
Bueckers and the Wings are back on ION tonight, facing the Minnesota Lynx as part of an opening-night doubleheader. The second features the first-ever game of the league's newest franchise, the Golden State Valkyries, as they take on the Los Angeles Sparks at San Franciso's Chase Center.
Anchor Larry Smith and analysts Autumn Johnson and Meghan McKeown will be live from Chase Center, and Mills will be in Dallas as a courtside correspondent. In addition, Scripps has deployed a producer to Bueckers' hometown of Hopkins, MN, to attend the watch party for Paige Bueckers Day.
In the Studio: Dedicated Show Tips Off First Full-Season Campaign While game coverage will continue to be the main event, Scripps remains ultra-focused on creating a comprehensive on-air product complete with shoulder programming and wrap-around shows. The WNBA on Ion studio show's 30-minute pregame shows will once again feature player interviews, highlights from the week's games, and spotlights on upcoming matchups on ION. In addition, the show will host halftime shows that break down games and provide insights from the studio host and analysts, as well as wrap-up/preview shows in between games.
We were very pleased with how things went last year [in the studio], says Pacini. This season, our new sports studio heads into its first full season of operation, and we are maximizing our efforts to create the most compelling and entertaining show possible.
Spearheaded by Studio Show Producer Jay Hoover, the Atlanta-based show will again feature Smith alongside analysts Johnson, the NCAA's lead personality covering women's basketball, and McKeown, basketball analyst for the Sun, NBC/Peacock, Big Ten Network, ESPN and FOX. In addition to analysis, the production team puts together in-depth feature stories from around the league each Friday.
Our weekly features have been well-received by the league and the players, notes Pacini. The longtail effect of that is credibility as a national network with coaches, players, and PR personnel, so we are able to get better access.
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WNBA Tip-Off 2025: Scripps Sports' Friday Night Spotlight' Features More Games, Dedicated Studio Show on ION The coverage saw a 133% boost in viewership in its second season By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
