The BNK Financial 2025-2026 Women's Professional Basketball regular season posted clear year-on-year gains across key metrics including attendance and TV ratings.
According to the Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL) on Monday, total attendance for the 90 games held from November 16 last year to April 3 this year reached 112,521. That represents a 13.2% increase from the previous season's 99,402.
Average attendance also rose 13.2% to approximately 1,250 per game. This marks the first time regular-season attendance has surpassed 100,000 since the 2019-2020 season, which operated under a six-round format. Weekend game attendance, expanded starting this season, surged 43.1% year-on-year.
TV ratings also climbed sharply. The average combined rating this season stood at 0.298%, according to Nielsen Korea, up 54.4% from the previous season's 0.193%. Among games excluding terrestrial broadcaster KBS1 coverage, the highest combined rating of 0.586% was recorded for the January 18 match between Busan BNK and Incheon Shinhan Bank.
New media metrics rose as well. All games were live-streamed on Naver Sports, SOOP, Daum Sports, and the WKBL app. Average viewership on SOOP surged 251.7% from the previous season, while Daum Sports grew 53.7%.
With the regular season concluded, women's basketball now enters the playoffs, played in a best-of-five format. The series opens Tuesday at Cheongju Gymnasium with Game 1 between Cheongju KB Stars and Asan Woori Bank. The championship finals will also follow a best-of-five format, with the playoff winners competing for the trophy starting April 22.