The WNBA’s viewership on its national television partners – ABC, CBS, ESPN and ESPN2 – this season increased 21% from 2022, while social media views jumped 96% to 373 million , according to the association. Beauty brands have an eye on gamers’ hyper-engaged online communities and aim to capitalize on the buzz around the sport. “This partnership allows us to reach more members of our Gen Z community, in an area that we now know our consumers are passionate about. Athletes are the kind of people they look up to,” says Diana Valdez, consumer engagement manager at Nyx Professional Makeup US. “(New York) Liberty had a great season and we were there for those games. It’s great to be in a category that isn’t so obvious and to have such a positive reaction.
It took time for beauty brands to seize this opportunity. “Before, when people thought of women’s sports, they didn’t think of beauty. They didn’t realize they went hand in hand,” says Taylor Burner, an agent with the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), who works across its entire spectrum of talent. “(Former All-Star player) Sheryl Swoopes has been wearing lipstick on the basketball court since the 1990s.”
WNBA players are eager to find brand partners. The WNBA’s highest-paid athletes earn a relatively modest $225,000 a year, Burner says, while a single marquee deal can bring in between $300 and $500,000. (On the other hand, the highest paid NBA player, Stephen Curry, earned over $51 million in the 2023 season.) “The good news is that women’s brand offerings are often more lucrative than men’s because it’s a story people want to tell and they get high engagement,” Burner points out. “The history of men is, in a way, played out.”
Players retain their subscribers
To help players land more deals, the WNBA launched a player marketing deals program this year, says Colie Edison, who joined the WNBA in January 2022 as its first chief growth officer. For on- and off-court transactions, partner brands can go directly to the WNBA, agreeing to pay a certain amount to each player involved. (This does not prevent players from signing their own off-field deals.)
Through this program, Glossier recruited Izzy Harrison, a player for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky with 200,000 followers on Instagram, X and TikTok. She curated a product bundle for Glossier and appeared on its social media. On the court, next to her basketball outfit and shoes, she wears Glossier foundation, eyebrow pencil and eyelash extensions. “In the WNBA we love beauty, we love looking our best,” she says. “My followers care about what new sneakers I got from (the) Jordan Brand that week, what beauty products I use for dry skin, or what outfit I’m going to wear to the game.”
