SPOTLIGHT: Breaking Barriers and Building Brands: The Unstoppable Growth of Women’s Sports

Originally published on Geena Davis Institute 

Over the past few years as women’s basketball blossomed from an afterthought to a national phenomenon, the access to games on television and corresponding ratings, once minuscule, now rack up massive viewership numbers.

As a WNBA fan and market researcher, Charlene Polite Corley, Nielsen’s Vice President for Diverse Insights and Partnerships, had a front-row seat to the shift in data and culture. Polite Corley is delighted to see big brands, major sponsors and influential media outlets jumping aboard the women’s sports express and hails the economic opportunities accompanying this long-awaited breakthrough.

“It is super validating and almost emotional to see the audience catch up with the product on the floor,’’ Polite Corley said, noting how increased revenues have enhanced the lives of players. “To see these women getting their flowers is really, really magical.

“But also, Nielsen data shows there’s a ton of untapped opportunities. So the brands that have been very studied and investing in women’s sports along the way have a leg up. And now there’s some new joiners coming in, and so their price point is very different – as it should be.”

Indeed, potential advertisers should take note. The astonishing – but sustainable gains – for women’s sports serve as a true testament to the motto of the Geena Davis Institute: “If they can see it, they can be it.”

Or, as Polite Corley put it: “I feel like women’s sports is such a key case study for equity in media.”

Thanks to generational talents such as A’ja Wilson , Caitlin Clark, and Angel Reese, women’s basketball leads the power shift. Those stars grabbed the spotlight and kept it, attracting new audiences at an almost unthinkable rate at both the college and professional levels.

In 2024, 20 WNBA games through August averaged at least 1 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s audience measurement. The CBS Network averaged 1.10 million viewers for its eight games, up a staggering 86 percent from last year.

This is a significant development for a fan base that has long yearned for such visibility. Nielsen data shows that fans have cited lack of information and a lack of access to live airings as key barriers to keeping up with women’s sports.

Suddenly, media interest in women’s sports has grown so fast that Polite Corley sounded a note of caution.

“Wow, we got a whole bunch of new eyeballs really quickly, and everybody’s having to do a little bit of work,’’ she said. “We have to check a lot of our biases about how we report on women being women, being competitive, women being athletes, women being other than catty and jealous and all these other things. Like really broadening the lexicon of how we report and view women in these competitive settings.”

Fortunately, Nielsen executives and their sports-specific research teams have been delving into these questions for a while. Their data helps inform this golden age for women’s sports, with basketball’s success augmented by the Olympic Games in Paris, where female superstars such as Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky took center stage.

With help from Nielsen, here are some key statistics and trends among sponsors and fans when it comes to women’s sports.

WNBA fans are more likely to engage brands 

Nielsen data determined that sponsors of the WNBA received an average of 77 percent more media value year-over-year. The league’s fans were also 1.6 times more likely to follow a brand’s social media account.

What’s going on there?

“What that 77 percent is telling us is that when WNBA fans are tuned in or attending, they are hyper-aware of the brands that are also supporting their teams,’’ Polite Corley said.

In fact, she knows this dynamic first-hand.

Polite Corley attended the WNBA’s 2023 All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas. That’s where Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty broke WNBA and NBA records for most points in a 3-point shooting contest.

One of the things Polite Corley remembers most about that experience is the signage for Starry lemon-lime soda, which sponsored the action.

“Sabrina just broke all kinds of records. But I had never seen or heard of Starry,’’ she said. “So, the next time that I was traveling and encountered the brand ‘out in the wild,’ I made sure that I bought, like, two bottles.”

This is commonplace among this fan base. A whopping 60 percent of WNBA fans said they would recommend a brand sponsor to others.

“As soon as I saw this metric, I was like, ‘That’s so true,’’’ Polite Corley said. “Because I was so impressed by the show that they put on, sponsoring All-Star Weekend, and it just instantly translates to ‘that’s a brand that gets the value of this league and its fans.’

“The data shows that fans of The W are more likely to walk away saying ‘I’m going to talk to somebody about it and I’m going to purchase that brand when they show up. I think that’s a kind of widespread concept for those long-term fans.’”

The WNBA is a perfect spot for brands to demonstrate values and engage new consumers 

Nielsen’s research shows that the WNBA fan base embraces companies with a cause. The league’s supporters rank among the most supportive of social justice issues.

Polite Corley described inclusion as “the secret to growing the game.”

That’s demonstrated in the data surrounding the WNBA.

“It’s a perfect opportunity for the right brand to show up and say, ‘Hey, we care about (women’s) talent just getting the recognition it deserves, and that’s why we’re here,’’ Polite Corley said. “It’s a way to live your values with how and where brands place their sponsorships, especially because there has been such a dearth of investment for so long across multiple sports.”

Nielsen Fan Insights data found that 84 percent of WNBA fans and 74 percent of NBA fans care about combating racism.

With four new professional leagues for women coming this summer — soccer, volleyball, softball and a 3-on-3 basketball – Polite Corley expects brands to try to replicate some of the WNBA sponsorship success.

“So there’s a lot more opportunities to kind of tap into folks growing into those new avenues to support professional women’s athletes,’’ she said.

WNBA Draft viewership up 511 percent vs 2023 

The obvious follow-up question here is … wait, really? (begin italics) Five-hundred-and-eleven percent? (end italics)

Indeed, Nielsen’s data verifies the astounding year-over-year surge in interest in the night the WNBA teams get their pick of top college players turning pro.

In fact, it gets more amazing: Among girls aged 2 to 17, the viewership figure is up 668 percent.

“Yeah, this is interesting because the year prior, the WNBA Draft saw double-digit growth with female viewers,’’ Polite Corley said. “At the time, we saw an 89 percent jump so, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s fantastic!’

“It may not continue to do triple-digit increases going forward. But I do think it signals that you have a new audience who is really paying attention here.” 
 

Brands go big during the Olympics, but what are they doing in the meantime to engage? 

The Olympic Games have obvious appeal for sponsors because of their massive high-profile international exposure. But Nielsen underscored that opportunities continue for brands even during the non-Olympic years.

Polite Corley pointed to how an unlikely niche sport – women’s rugby – thrived on the media landscape this summer with help from relentlessly charismatic star Ilona Maher.

“I’m a burgeoning expert. Rugby is my new favorite,’’ Polite Corley said with a laugh. “So one of the benefits of the Olympics is we get this exposure to sports that may not be widely popular but are on the rise in our country.

“So folks have now discovered all these new sports they want to watch or learn to play. These are opportunities to place bets for the future of a growing sport, especially when it comes to women’s sports.”

For sponsors, there are also new frontiers to reach.

“I do think that it’s about keeping that momentum,’’ Polite Corley said. “The Paralympics come up right after the Olympic Games, and so that’s another opportunity to also tune in again and live those values around inclusion and support the Paralympic competitors as well.”

Conclusion: Is your brand in the right place to break through?

One of the biggest takeaways from Nielsen’s insights is that the best way to nurture a fan base is to tell more stories. Younger fans especially are open to sports-related content behind the scenes.

This interest is an opportunity to tell more stories of athletes, rivalries and triumphs across women’s sports.

Sponsors and brands, take note.

“There’s data that shows that when brands are thoughtful and show up with the right information to place these investments in women’s sports, they really do pay great dividends,’’ Polite Corley said. “It’s been a really exciting time.”