A meteoric rise in WNBA fans during 2024 outpaced yearly growth of any professional or college league or sport during this century to date.
According to SSRS’ Sports Poll, which has tracked sports-related data since 1994, women’s professional basketball brought in 17.3 million new fans in the U.S. age 12+, with a current total fan base of 110 million, making the WNBA the most popular women’s sport, ahead of women’s college basketball.
Even more significant, the WNBA’s 17.3 million boost in new fans during 2024 marked the highest influx of new fans to any league or sports in any single year since SSRS began measuring new fans annually in 2000.
As noted in a report from Edison Research, which was acquired by SSRS in October, the double-digit-million lifts for both the WNBA and women’s college basketball in 2024 — with 12.4 million new fans added by the latter — was likely driven by high-profile players such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.
Also seeing a key increase in fans last year, according to Sports Poll, was the NFL, which added 9.5 million U.S. fans 12+ during another season dominated by the Kansas City Chiefs, with Taylor Swift receiving plenty of camera time and publicity while attending games and cheering on then-boyfriend (and now-fiancé) Travis Kelce.
Woman’s sports have been gaining traction both with fans and with exposure. The iHeart Woman’s Sports Network, the first-ever audio platform dedicated exclusively to women’s sports, recently celebrated its first anniversary. iHeartMedia and Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, in collaboration with Ensemble, marked the occasion during the WNBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis last July.
In just one year, the iHeart Women’s Sports platform has helped boost coverage of women’s sports from under 1% in 2024 to over 34% this year, reaching 89 million monthly listeners across nearly 500 U.S. radio stations. As interest in women’s sports continues to surge, iHeartMedia has remained committed to equitable representation, dedicating 50% of all newly produced sports podcasts to women’s sports. In the past year, 80% of iHeartMedia listeners aged 18 to 54 reported that women’s sports have become more accessible. iHeart Women’s Sports also ranks in the top 10% of all iHeartPodcast downloads, underscoring the growing demand for focused, female-driven sports content.