This is not just a Caitlin Clark account.
That’s what ESPN VP of product method and glad insight Flora Kelly said, having studied the information around the Iowa actor’s hegemony.
Yes, Clark has become a powerful force on and off the judge: selling out sphere, signing huge brand deals, and becoming the experience of college basketball—men’s or women’s.
But she’s also doing so in combination with a surge of attention across women’s basketball and women’s sports perhaps more widely. Increased Screen time has contributed to the growth, and been a result of it. The same holds for fundamental changes in how viewers watch activities today.
Disentangling those interconnected trend liquids is a fool’s task, Kelly added. What came second, the coverage or the visitors? remains an unsolvable problem. However, the more- than- Caitlin Clark history offers enticing training in what makes sports increase in 2024.

Clark is far and away the best known participant in March Madness this time. But four out of the six most recognized players playing in either game are people, according to a new Seton Hall surveys. Even taking Clark out of the picture, Similarweb data shows online search volume about high- profile female players jumped 54 % from January to February ( compared to a 10 % jump for top male athletes ).
Select TV managers saw this coming before Clark emerged on the scene—and pushed to set the stage for her comeback.
Carol Stiff spent more than 30 times at ESPN and for much of that day urged the business to accept women’s sports. ” All I can suggest is it’s about time”, said Stiff, then the president of the Women’s Sports Network, a 24/7 location dedicated to the subject.
Marketers played a vital part, seeing the price in those qualities and demanding more provide in more attractive time slots. Google worked with ESPN to increase the WNBA’s nighttime products and SportsCenter policy. Ally pushed for the NWSL’s championship to be moved into the evening ( where viewership jumped 71 % ). Usually advertisers flow to where viewers are. This time, they moved to where the viewers may be.
Lobby believers saw both the social and financial advantages of growing those systems, and just the evidence points have piled up. Then those meetings are less controversial, the decision to back children’s athletics considered less dramatic.
” For deniers, the figures needed to be undeniable”, said Howard Megdal, founder/editor of The IX children’s sports magazine and The Next women’s hockey office.
Next flower, the NCAA Tournament last drew 9.9 million people on ABC and ESPN. That amount was apparent.
New accommodations for college sports to sign deals straight with publishers have let those companies further promote their diplomats to bigger audiences.
” Now, it’s only wise business”, ESPN VP for development and mergers Nick Dawson said of investing in children’s sports information. ” To not do it is a poor business selection”.

Decades- much generational change contributed also, as Fox Corporation chairman for insights and analytics Mike Mulvihill pointed out. Title IX of the Civil Rights Act was signed into law almost 52 years before, meaning everyone in TV’s important 18- 49 statistical today grew up in a world that recognized the need for women to have equitable access to elite athletics. Coaches have developed, playing styles have evolved, and the women’s college basketball landscape is now more competitive than ever.
Then there are the much more recent innovations to consider. A massive expansion of linear channels, in particular the creation of school- and conference- specific stations, brought more chances to put women’s games on air. Mulvihill said data from Fox- owned Big Ten Network helped the company decide to put Iowa games on Fox itself, where Clark set viewership records while chasing scoring ones. Similar momentum is currently building across volleyball, gymnastics and softball, Mulvihill added.
And of course, there’s the internet. Beyond those cable channels, streaming services have vastly expanded access to women’s sports. Social media, meanwhile, has introduced the games ‘ stars to entirely new swaths of soon- to- be followers.
Kelly particularly pointed to the growth of TikTok during the pandemic. In 2021, then- Oregon Duck women’s basketball player Sedona Prince’s complaint about the lack of gym equipment went viral on the app, earning more than 12 million views—and offering a glimpse of what was to come.
Clark, a relatable, expressive young woman with a penchant for unbelievable plays, is seemingly tailor- made for online success. ” Every single advertiser wants to connect themselves to something viral that just blows up like]Clark has ]”, said Adam Schwartz, Horizon Media SVP, managing partner for sports video investment.
It’s not just sports being upended by these phenomena. Social spikes are selling out quotidian products, fomenting mobs at viral restaurants, and forcing tourism destinations to basically put up” Stay Out” signs. In fact, sports—with its lifelong fandoms and IRL roots—might be one of the last sectors to be upended by today’s sensation creation industry. What’s happened with women’s basketball, then, could just be the beginning.
” The ability of pop culture to drive audience— I’ve never seen that to the extent that I’ve seen it the last few years”, Kelly said. ” We’re really now—post- pandemic and post- TikTok when sports are on all cylinders—starting to see the impact of social media creating hyper awareness of characters and events for sports”.
Given the newness of those trends driving women’s basketball’s growth, it’s unclear how the fandom will develop. Will neophytes stick around for five years, or will people move on to the next hot thing? Will they attach themselves to teams, or individuals, or other centers of community conversation? Will new properties like the early- season events several networks are now building accelerate the sport’s momentum?
Here’s what the experts studying the data, those working with industry insiders, and the lifers who spent decades fighting towards moments like this March ( even well before they could ever imagine such a thing as a TikTok Caitlin Cam ) all agree on.
Yes, Clark is one of a kind. But her emergence is also only the start of something bigger.
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