The WNBA has reportedly reached a television viewership deal with Nielsen Media Research, granting the league access to metrics measuring consumption across traditional and streaming television platforms. As the league prepares to enter into new 11-year media rights contracts with The Walt Disney Company, Comcast Corporation and Amazon reportedly worth $200 million per year, the entity has now reached the largest commercial measurement deal for a women’s sports league ever recorded for Nielsen.
According to Sara Fischer of Axios, the deal was agreed upon last quarter and will provide the league with Nielsen ratings through a paid partnership rather than relying on NBA or media partner data.
Nielsen currently has a measurement deal with the LPGA as well, but this contract will enable Nielsen to measure WNBA ratings as a client alongside the NBA. In addition, it allows for the direct distribution of such ratings and alleviates the risk of external blackouts, such as what transpired with Paramount Global last year. The media conglomerate reached a multiyear agreement with Nielsen after a four-month contract dispute that included the licensure of new Nielsen services, including Big Data + Panel, Advanced Audiences and Ad-Supported Streaming Platform Ratings.
Nielsen has several deals with professional sports leagues, some of which consist of the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. TKO Group Holdings properties WWE and UFC also have contracts with Nielsen, the former of which is in the first year of new media rights deals for its Raw and Smackdown properties. Fischer reports that while Nielsen typically sells its data tools to television networks in deals that cost “hundreds of millions,” its agreements with leagues are usually worth “upwards of tens of millions” instead.
The reported deal between Nielsen and the WNBA comes as the league will be negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the WNBPA ahead of next season. Last season, the league attained 22 regular-season games that averaged more than 1 million viewers per contest, marking the first time since 2008 a league matchup passed that average threshold. The popularity of the league has been proliferating in recent years with superstars such as Caitlin Clark, Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson competing for championships. On top of that, the league has introduced new teams coming to Portland and Toronto next season with one more available spot open for 2028.
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