The Caitlin Clark effect is the impact that American basketball player Caitlin Clark is reported to have on the popularity of women's basketball. Publications have used the term since Clark's collegiate career with the Iowa Hawkeyes, in which she drew unprecedented public interest to the sport. In 2023 and 2024, during her final two seasons at Iowa, her games set several attendance and television viewership records. After Clark was drafted by the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), analysts credited the Caitlin Clark effect for increases in WNBA attendance and viewership.