WNBA strikes direct audience measurement deal with Nielsen

The WNBA will be leveraging data-driven insights following a new deal with Nielsen.

According to Sara Fischer of Axios, the WNBA will begin receiving first-party data from audience measurement company Nielsen in a deal worth upwards of “tens of millions” of dollars. Per Fischer, it is the largest direct-access deal Nielsen has ever struck with a women’s sports league.

The WNBA now joins the NFL, MLS, NHL, PGA, NCAA, MLB, UFC, WWE, LPGA, and Premier League as sports entities that have a direct relationship with Nielsen.

Traditionally, Nielsen has sold its suite of audience data tools to television networks, which then utilize them for various purposes, including selling advertising inventory and making programming decisions. These deals typically run networks upwards of “hundreds of millions,” per Axios.

Now, leagues themselves are recognizing the value of having access to detailed viewership data rather than relying solely on data from the networks.

For the WNBA, this deal comes at a crucial time. The league recently inked new 11-year media rights agreements with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon as part of the NBA’s latest set of media rights deals. These agreements are reportedly worth an average of $200 million per year.

But perhaps even more critically, the WNBA will be negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with its players following this season. It’s safe to say that as WNBA ratings continue to soar and players demand a larger share of the revenue that comes with it, Nielsen’s data will play a pivotal role in negotiations.