After a record-breaking season, the WNBA’s winning streak continues.
A new report from data analytics firm Morning Consult, which tracks how consumers perceive thousands of brands each day, reveals no brand’s reputation rose more throughout 2024 than the WNBA’s.
“It’s rare that a sports league ever makes any type of ranking that we put out,” said Ellyn Briggs, a brands analyst at Morning Consult and co-author of the report. “We’ve certainly never had a women’s pro league.”
To generate its report on the fastest-growing brands, Morning Consult examined how many consumers said they were considering purchasing from a brand in Q3 compared to Q1.
Although the WNBA’s purchase consideration rate remains relatively low—16.7% of U.S. adults expressed interest in Q3—it improved by 3.82 percentage points from Q1, giving it the biggest overall gain.
Part of the league’s growing appeal is due to higher purchase consideration levels across several demographics. Whether it was men, Baby Boomers, or individuals with an annual income of either less than $50,000 or more than $100,000, consumer groups of all sorts are warming up to the league.
Other brands that boosted their standing among American shoppers in 2024 include Ben & Jerry’s, which saw its purchase consideration rate increase 3.74 percentage points to 47.5%, and Brisk Iced Tea, which climbed 3.67 points to 37.7%
Overall, Morning Consult included more than 1,700 brands in its analysis.
How the WNBA did it
While top draft pick Caitlin Clark, along with fellow rookie Angel Reese, brought a great deal of attention to the league throughout the year, much of the WNBA’s story in 2024 centered around its fanbase—which came out in droves.
More than 54 million unique viewers tuned in for games across ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ION, and NBA TV, delivering the league its biggest broadcast audience in 24 years. ESPN platforms (averaging 1.19 million per game, up 170% from 2023), CBS Sports (1.10 million, up 86%), and Scripps’ ION (670,000, up 133%) all had their most-watched WNBA regular seasons ever.
The 2,353,735 fans who attended WNBA games marked a 48% increase from last season. Around the league, 154 sellouts amounted to a 242% spike.
Given that a WNBA team only has 40 games on its schedule each season, no one team or player can take all the credit for the league’s surging popularity.
