Event attendance ranges from millions of visits across a season to a single game or fair day. The figures below compare Broadway seasons, CES 2025, the WNBA’s 2024 season, and Minnesota State Fair attendance in 2023–2025. Each source measures a different kind of gathering, so the date, geography, and definition of attendance matter.
Contents
- Broadway season attendance
- Broadway capacity and recovery
- CES 2025 audience scale
- CES geography and professional reach
- WNBA attendance growth
- Minnesota State Fair attendance
Broadway season attendance
The Broadway League’s season totals show a large live-theater audience, but also a sharp difference between the seasons immediately before and after the pandemic-era disruption. Broadway drew 14,768,254 total attendees in the 2018–19 season. The 2019–20 season recorded 11,137,787 attendees, while the 2021–22 season recorded 6,729,143.
Attendance then moved upward. Broadway recorded 12,283,399 attendees in 2022–23 and 12,287,708 in 2023–24. The 2024–25 season reached 14,658,531 total attendees, nearly matching the 2018–19 level in the supplied Broadway League figures. These are season totals, not single-event counts, and they describe Broadway attendance across the season rather than a particular theater or production.
| Broadway season | Total attendees | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | 14,768,254 | 89.75% |
| 2019–20 | 11,137,787 | 90.95% |
| 2021–22 | 6,729,143 | 81.77% |
| 2022–23 | 12,283,399 | 88.35% |
| 2023–24 | 12,287,708 | 89.63% |
| 2024–25 | 14,658,531 | 91.19% |
The sequence gives useful context for interpreting a headline attendance number. A total of 14.66 million in 2024–25 represents a season-wide result across Broadway, while the 6.73 million recorded in 2021–22 represents a much smaller season total. The figures should not be treated as a forecast for future seasons or as attendance at one event.
Broadway capacity and recovery
Capacity adds a second dimension to Broadway attendance. The Broadway League reported 89.75% capacity in 2018–19 and 90.95% in 2019–20. Capacity was 81.77% in 2021–22, then rose to 88.35% in 2022–23 and 89.63% in 2023–24. The 2024–25 season reached 91.19% capacity, the highest percentage in this six-season set.
Attendance and capacity answer different questions. Total attendees describes the number of visits accumulated across the season. Capacity describes how full available seats were, according to the Broadway League’s reported season measure. A season can have a high capacity percentage without having the largest total attendance if the number of performances or available seats differs. For that reason, the two measures are most useful when read together.
The Broadway figures also show why a baseline is important. The 2024–25 total of 14,658,531 was close to the 2018–19 total of 14,768,254, while the reported capacity was higher in 2024–25 at 91.19% compared with 89.75% in 2018–19. The supplied figures do not explain the causes of those changes, so the comparison should remain descriptive rather than attributing attendance movement to a particular factor.
CES 2025 audience scale
The CES 2025 Attendance Audit recorded 142,465 total verified attendees. Its categories break that total into 81,621 verified industry attendees, 54,262 verified exhibitor personnel, and 6,582 verified media attendees. These categories describe verified attendance at the 2025 CES event and are not equivalent to Broadway’s season-wide ticket attendance.
CES 2025 recorded 85,064 domestic attendees and 57,401 international attendees. International visitors represented 40.2% of attendance, and visitors came from 158 countries, regions, and territories. The audit also recorded 72,296 senior-level executives, described as 53% of verified attendance. These numbers make CES a useful example of an event where audience composition is as important as the headline total.
The professional audience extended into the exhibitor and corporate community. CES 2025 attracted representatives from 305 of the 2024 Fortune 500 companies, according to the CES 2025 Attendance Audit. That figure is a count of companies represented, not a count of individual Fortune 500 attendees. Keeping that distinction clear prevents a company count from being mistaken for an attendance total.
CES also reported a large media and social footprint. Media attendance came from 84 countries, regions, and territories. The event generated 36 billion in global social reach and 466,000 social media mentions. Social reach and mentions are engagement or exposure measures, not additional people physically attending the event, so they should be kept separate from the 142,465 verified attendees.
CES geography and professional reach
The CES 2025 Attendance Audit provides country-level counts for selected markets. South Korea contributed 14,405 attendees, China 10,542, Japan 6,426, Canada 4,013, Germany 2,623, France 2,177, and India 598. These counts sit within the audit’s broader total of 57,401 international attendees and should not be added to the total because they represent only the listed countries.
| CES 2025 measure | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Total verified attendees | 142,465 |
| Verified industry attendees | 81,621 |
| Verified exhibitor personnel | 54,262 |
| Verified media attendees | 6,582 |
| Domestic attendees | 85,064 |
| International attendees | 57,401 |
| International share | 40.2% |
| Countries, regions, and territories represented | 158 |
| Senior-level executives | 72,296 |
The geographic figures help explain the international character of a large trade event without turning them into a ranking of overall event success. CES 2025’s 158 represented countries, regions, and territories measure the breadth of origin reported by the audit. The 84-country, region, and territory media figure measures the reach of the media audience specifically. They are related, but they are not the same denominator.
For storytelling and media analysis, the distinction is especially useful. A live audience can be measured by verified attendance, while its wider public visibility can be described with social reach and mentions. CES 2025 reported both kinds of numbers, but the audit does not make social reach interchangeable with a person count. The safest reading is that the event had 142,465 verified attendees and a separate 36 billion global social reach.
WNBA attendance growth
The WNBA’s 2024 season reached 2,353,735 in total attendance, according to “WNBA Delivers Record-Setting 2024 Season.” The source reported that total attendance was up 48% from the prior season. It also reported an average of 9,807 fans per game, with average attendance up 48% from the prior season.
The season included 154 sellouts, a 242% increase from the prior season. The Indiana Fever drew 340,715 fans at home in 2024. For historical context, the prior WNBA team home-attendance record was 250,565, set by New York in 2001. The supplied source also identifies three large 2024 games: Indiana versus Washington on September 19 drew a single-game record 20,711; Indiana versus Las Vegas on July 2 drew 20,366; and Indiana versus Washington on June 7 drew 20,333.
| WNBA 2024 indicator | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Total season attendance | 2,353,735 |
| Average fans per game | 9,807 |
| Sellouts | 154 |
| Indiana Fever home attendance | 340,715 |
| Commissioner’s Cup average | 9,377 |
| Single-game record, Sept. 19 | 20,711 |
The Commissioner’s Cup games averaged 9,377 fans in 2024, and that average was up 42% from the prior season. This is a competition-specific average, so it should not be substituted for the WNBA’s overall average of 9,807 fans per game. The contrast shows how event attendance statistics can change with the scope of the measure: league season, team home schedule, single game, or special competition.
The same WNBA source reported nearly 2 billion social media video views in 2024, more than quadruple the prior season’s 378 million. It also reported that merchandise sales were up 601% from 2023. Video views and merchandise sales are not attendance measures, but they show how interest around a live sports event can be tracked beyond the people present in venues.
Minnesota State Fair attendance
Minnesota State Fair Attendance figures show both daily variation and changes in total attendance. Total attendance was 1,835,826 in 2023, 1,925,904 in 2024, and 1,940,869 in 2025. The reported totals therefore describe the full fair attendance for each year, while the daily figures below cover four named days rather than the entire fair schedule.
| Day | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | 106,327 | 138,875 | 137,148 |
| Friday | 164,741 | 171,233 | 153,988 |
| Saturday | 212,850 | 184,564 | 198,863 |
| Sunday | 173,724 | 134,644 | 184,176 |
| Total attendance | 1,835,826 | 1,925,904 | 1,940,869 |
The daily records demonstrate why a single day should not be used as a proxy for a multi-day event’s total. Saturday was the highest of the listed 2023 days at 212,850, while 2025’s highest listed day was Saturday at 198,863. In 2024, Friday was the highest among the four listed days at 171,233. The 2025 Thursday figure was 137,148, close to the 2024 Thursday figure of 138,875, while the 2025 Sunday figure of 184,176 was higher than both the 2024 Sunday figure of 134,644 and the 2023 Sunday figure of 173,724.
Across the full-year totals, the Minnesota State Fair recorded its highest figure in this set in 2025 at 1,940,869. The daily values are observations for named days, not an explanation of why the annual total changed. They are best used to show distribution across selected dates and to keep event attendance analysis grounded in the measurement period.