In a crowded media landscape where capturing live viewership for most video content is a thing of the past, women's basketball has emerged as advertising's most surprising MVP that’s bridging the gap between linear and streaming audiences.
What was once considered a niche market has transformed into a billion-dollar phenomenon, with the WNBA and NCAA women's basketball shattering viewership records and reshaping how brands connect with consumers.
Women's sports surpassed the billion-dollar threshold in 2024, as Deloitte and others predicted, with the WNBA completing its most-watched regular season in 21 years. This isn't merely incremental growth—it represents a seismic shift in the sports marketplace. According to recent data, women's sports are projected to reach $1.28 billion in global revenue, representing an extraordinary 300% growth rate over just three years.
The WNBA's financial trajectory tells the story most clearly. In July 2024, the league announced a landmark media rights agreement with Disney, NBC, and Amazon Prime valued at $200 million annually—more than tripling the previous agreement of $60 million per year. The $2.2 billion total deal, beginning in 2026, will see over 100 regular season games televised or streamed nationally, dramatically expanding the league's visibility.
“Women's sports are officially a business imperative,” says Laura Grover, SVP and head of Client Solutions at EDO. “As investment accelerates, outcomes have never been more critical. It's not just about reaching this fast-growing audience—it's about inspiring action, building brand affinity, and driving real business impact.”
The value proposition for advertisers isn't just about audience size—it's about engagement quality. EDO’s Women’s Sports TV Outcomes report finds that advertisements during the 2024 WNBA playoffs were 24% more effective than those during average primetime programming, an 11% increase year-over-year. Similarly, spots during the NCAA women's tournament were 18% more effective than primetime averages.
Nielsen data reinforces this picture, showing that WNBA fans demonstrate exceptionally strong brand engagement, with 60% likely to recommend brand sponsors to others. The league saw a remarkable 29% year-over-year increase in interest, according to Nielsen Fan Insights.
Allen Adamson, co-founder and Managing Partner of Metaforce, explains the fundamental shift: “Sports remains the last must-watch, real-time content category for networks and streaming platforms. Nobody rewatches last year's big game unless they're coaching.”
But historically, Adamson notes, “Sports has been a boys’ club—outside of the Super Bowl, tennis, and golf, most sports audiences skew heavily male. That meant the brands that drive household purchasing decisions—beauty, fashion, home goods, and personal care—have been left on the bench while beer, cars, and chips dominated the game.”
That dynamic is changing dramatically. The rise of women's basketball has opened doors for categories previously underrepresented in sports advertising.
“If you want to know who's advertising in women's basketball, don't look at the field—look at the aisles," Adamson observes. “Personal care, wellness, household goods, and activewear brands are jumping in, realizing that women's basketball offers them a way to connect with their core buyers like never before.”
Brands like Degree, NyQuil, and Invesco are establishing significant presences in women's basketball, joined by healthcare brands and even VPN services. The attraction is clear: women's basketball delivers an audience that controls most household spending decisions.
Despite this growth, challenges remain. The women's sports marketplace remains highly fragmented, with inventory scattered across numerous networks and properties. This fragmentation has created barriers for brands wanting to make significant investments.
Addressing this challenge head-on, Publicis Sports launched Women's Sports Connect in mid-February as a specifically designed solution to help advertisers and sponsors invest in women's sports at scale.
“There is a lot of chatter in the marketplace about the disparity between men's and women's sports investment and how to achieve equity, but no one is really addressing the critical issue of fragmentation across women's sports inventory,” said Talia Raviv, Global CEO of Publicis Media, in a statement. “In order to shift greater investment toward women's sports, we need a way to aggregate inventory and allow for scaled investment.”
The initiative provides access to exclusive media opportunities across live games and surrounding content, including audio, digital, connected TV, local video, national video, and social platforms.
Individual athletes have played a crucial role in driving this growth. The impact of stars on women's sports reached unprecedented heights in 2024. A Caitlin Clark trading card sold for an astonishing $234,850 in December, more than doubling the previous record for a Clark or WNBA card. This sale represented the second most expensive women's sports card ever, trailing only a 2003 Serena Williams autographed patch card.
As Clark and other collegiate stars like Angel Reese transitioned to the professional ranks, some questioned whether college basketball would maintain its momentum without these established stars.
“Star power drives sports. That's been true since the days of Jordan and Tiger,” Adamson notes. “Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese brought a level of mainstream buzz to women's college basketball that made last year's tournament appointment viewing—even for casual fans.”
The growth extends beyond traditional sports media. Industry reports show that iHeart Women’s Sports has released more than 35,000 women's sports reports and provided over 600 hours of content, reaching 75 million fans. The network’s podcast downloads have approached 3 million since launch, with individual shows experiencing dramatic growth.
“We launched iHeart Women's Sports last year to provide the type of women's sports coverage that fans have long been wanting,” said Jessie Katz, head of iHeart Women's Sports.
Shannon Pruitt, global chief marketing officer of the Stagwell Brand Performance Network, offers perhaps the most succinct explanation for the current boom: “Women's sports actually started catching on a while ago, but the audience growth was hampered because the platforms and the brands took longer to catch up more fully,” she said during a CES panel in January. “Because of the ability for platforms to adapt and put more money and distribution behind women's sports, audiences have shown up ready to consume.”
For advertisers and consumers alike, the message is clear: women's basketball has moved from underdog story to main event. With growing audiences, unmatched engagement metrics, and expanding media deals, it's not just changing the game — it’s changing the business of sports entertainment entirely.
“The future of sports is being rewritten," said Rita Ferro, Disney Advertising's Global President as part of Publicis’ launch of Women's Sports Connect, “and those that don't invest in women's sports will find themselves left on the sidelines.”
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