Increased Snapchat Engagement in Women’s Professional Sports

Key Insights

• Research: Snapchat’s report reveals significant engagement with women’s sports among users.
• Viewership: The Women’s World Cup saw 3.2 billion views, highlighting increased interest.
• Growth: The WNBA’s regular season attracted over 54 million unique viewers, a 170% increase.
• Opportunities: Brands can leverage the rising popularity of women’s sports for marketing strategies.

Snapchat has published a new research report into the rising popularity of women’s sports, and how Snap users are engaging with female athletes and leagues in the app.

The report, conducted in partnership with Ipsos and Dentsu, incorporates responses from over 13,506 sports fans across seven markets, providing a broad scope of insight into shifting attitudes around female sports, and the respective cultural shifts.

You can download the full 49-page report for yourself here, but in this post, we’ll take a look at some of the key notes.

First off, the report looks at the overall popularity of sports content on Snap, and how Snapchat users are looking to engage with sports.

And while male sports and leagues still dominate the overall sport discussion, women’s leagues are gaining traction, in various arenas.

As per Snap:

“Over the last few years, women’s sports have gone through a major cultural shift. In 2023, FIFA reported 3.2 billion views of social content for the Women’s World Cup, and the U.S. Open women’s final outperformed the men’s final in viewership. In 2024, the Paris Olympics had an equal number of male and female athletes competing for the first time, and the WNBA’s regular season attracted over 54 million unique viewers, a 170% increase from the previous season, and the league was cited as the fastest-growing brand in professional sports.”

That rising interest presents new opportunities, for the leagues themselves in connecting with audiences, and for marketers looking to tap into these trends to maximize their reach and resonance.

The report includes a heap of data on women’s sports engagement, as well as tips on how brands can play a part in amplifying and supporting female leagues.

There are also notes on how brands can contribute to the broader amplification and platforming of female athletes, and partner with them to create more resonant promotions.

Some good insights, which could help to guide your thinking on how you not only tie into the rising popularity of female sports leagues, but also use the opportunity to empower young women to follow their athletic dreams.

And with Gen Z consumers being especially interested in supporting causes, that could also have a broader branding benefit, aside from the more general social good.

You can check out Snapchat’s full “Women’s Sports Era” report here.