The WNBA App changes the game for fans
The WNBA delivers a custom, dynamically evolving digital experience designed to put fans at the center of it all.
The situation
On the court, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has what many fans are looking for. World-class talent, incredible matchups, rivalries heating up, athletes breaking records—and then breaking them again. Long-time fans and brand-new ones are flocking to arenas and screens to watch all the action.
But the fans’ excitement can’t be contained by a physical venue, and it doesn’t start and stop when the game clock does. Fans want stats, game highlights, and exclusive content at their fingertips so they can engage with their favorite players, teams, and the league whenever and wherever they are. Off the court—in the digital arena—the WNBA wants to keep leveling up its game.
In 2020, the WNBA operated a league website and a mobile app for livestreaming games, but neither offered the in-depth content and features fans desired. The league believed there was an opportunity to increase fan retention and brand affinity with a more cohesive digital ecosystem. The WNBA wanted to reimagine its app to engage the broad spectrum of its growing fan base, from lifelong fans raised on the WNBA to first-time fans following their favorite rookie into the league. With an innovative digital experience—built with the goal to evolve as quickly as the game and fan trends do—the WNBA could provide value to users, sponsors, and advertisers to drive sustained business performance.
Women’s basketball is turning a breakaway moment into a new era for fans.
The solve
The game plan: Define a long-term digital strategy to provide unified direction across digital products. Get inside the minds of fans to truly understand their wants and needs. Create a dynamic app that delivers in-demand features and provides the data and flexible infrastructure to continuously evolve the digital experience as fan trends evolve in real time.
The WNBA turned to Deloitte to bring its deep industry experience and the comprehensive technology capabilities of the Deloitte IndustryAdvantage™ framework to help build this digital strategy road map, drive the complete app development life cycle, and provide ongoing services to continue innovating postlaunch. Using proprietary research, fan insights, and competitive analysis, Deloitte digital strategists, UX/UI designers, and product managers mapped out the app’s architecture. Deloitte software engineers and mobile developers built custom components to serve unique content to each fan, balancing personalization—letting avid fans focus in on their favorite teams and players—with opportunities for discovery—helping welcome curious new fans into the fold and encourage them to dive deeper.
In 2022, the reimagined WNBA App hit the market and changed the game for fans.
But that was just the beginning. Momentum built and built, with 2024 bringing the league’s most-watched full season in 27 years¹. Soaring popularity created a feedback loop of record-breaking games driving new app downloads and exciting new app features encouraging more and more fans to tune in.
Behind the scenes, an integrated Deloitte and WNBA Digital Products team continue to fuel fandom and drive scale for the league. Product managers keep a pulse on fan feedback, the deep user analytics generated by the app, and other key data points from the league to design and deploy fresh, in-demand features regularly. New features include a refreshed stats experience, more customizable content, a tailored onboarding flow for new users, and increased opportunities for the league’s sponsors. Quality assurance professionals conduct extensive user testing to make sure the app infrastructure can scale to serve the rapidly growing fan base. Developers implement leading cybersecurity practices to protect fan data and create a secure foundation for increased personalization and monetization opportunities. The WNBA Digital Products team and Deloitte work on these continuous enhancements based on what fans want and what the WNBA needs to push its strategic goals forward and channel the current momentum into future growth.
Flexible technology that continuously evolves to meet fans where they are
The impact
The app continues to deliver for both fans and the league. Fans can get closer to what they love about the teams, players, and league and move from curious to casual to core fandom with the latest league news, must-see moments, player spotlights, and behind-the-scenes content all in one place, all unique to the WNBA App built by Deloitte. The WNBA has a powerful tool to help strengthen its brand, engage with fans in a deep way, access real-time analytics to drive future decisions, and keep fans within the WNBA ecosystem rather than lose them to third-party platforms—all helping to drive an industry advantage. This fan-focused digital experience was designed to amplify the on-court action, helping to make the WNBA the fastest-growing brand in the United States in 2024² and setting it up to keep growing.
And for the fans who love stats … From the launch of the new app in 2022 to 2024, engagement across WNBA digital and social properties skyrocketed:
- App downloads grew by nearly 1,467%
- Monthly active users grew by 498%
- Subscriptions to League Pass for in-app streaming grew by 404%³
World-class WNBA talent on the court now has the digital experience to match—wherever the game goes next.
The digital app foundation that Deloitte has helped us build is not only empowering us to shape the present, but also gives us the flexibility to adopt and thrive in the exciting future ahead. Together, we are laying the groundwork for a transformative, personalized experience that will elevate the WNBA for years to come.
– Devin Ward, Director of WNBA Digital Products
