Will Caitlin Clark Reimagine the Potential of Women’s Sports Marketing?

The fascination over Iowa’s star guard Caitlin Clark has many observers wondering if the presumptive No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft will not only transform women’s basketball in the years ahead but women’s sports overall.

In a column for USA Today, Nancy Armour, a sports columnist who covers social issues, said she believes Clark could become as transformative as Michael Jordan, who has earned credit for transforming the NBA into a global phenomenon, basketball sneakers into a fashion lifestyle choice, and Nike into the world’s largest sportswear company.

Over her four-year college career that ended in Iowa’s loss Sunday to undefeated South Carolina, the two-time national player of the year broke Pete Maravich’s 54-year-old record as all-time leading NCAA career basketball scorer and Steph Curry’s record for three-point shots made in a single NCAA season set in the 2007-08 season.

Armour wrote, “Like Jordan, Clark will be the gateway to the game for many, but they will soon find their interest growing beyond her. Just as the NBA looked different before Jordan and after, so, too, will women’s sports because of Clark.”

Clark’s appeal has been most notable in driving record ratings for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Friday’s Iowa versus Connecticut game marked ESPN’s highest-rated basketball game ever with an average of 14.2 million viewers and a peak of 17 million, topping a record set days earlier by Iowa’s victory over LSU.

Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney, ESPN’s owner, said last week at his company’s annual meeting that the Iowa versus LSU game viewership ranked above all but one men’s NCAA tournament game, all but one NBA Finals game last season, and every World Series game in the most recent MLB postseason. Iger added, “That’s just a tremendous, tremendous affirmation that not only women’s sports arrived, but their potential is so tremendous.”

The strong ratings for the women’s March Madness tournament, also supported by other breakout stars like Paige Bueckers and JuJu Watkins, comes as women’s sports saw a breakout year in 2023 with record attendance and viewership for the NSWL (National Women’s Soccer League), a strong uptick for the WNBA (National Women’s Basketball Association), and surging viewership for women’s college volleyball. With Gen Zers particularly showing interest in watching women’s sports, major media deals were recently signed for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament and the NSWL.

Clark said after the South Carolina game, “I hope I showed everybody like how fun women’s basketball is, how fun women’s sports are, and brought joy to a lot of families whether you’re a young girl or a young boy, or an older man, an older woman … people my grandma’s age absolutely love our team.”

In an interview with the Associated Press, Kellyn Smith Kenny, chief marketing and growth officer at AT&T, described Clark as a “potentially once in a generation” athlete and talked up the value of women’s sports marketing. Viewers of women’s sports, she said, have a disproportionate share of their households’ discretionary spend, are far more likely to remember and recall brands advertising during games, and reward brands supportive of women’s sports.

“It seems like we’re in this moment of the power of the woman, and the power of the girl,” said Smith Kenny. “From what we saw last year with Beyonce and Taylor Swift and their tours, and this year with Caitlin (Clark) and Sabrina (Ionescu, a professional basketball player), there’s incredible momentum.”