Women's basketball athletes see Instagram following increase during March Madness

The GIST: Once again, women’s basketball (WBB) is going viral. Of the 20 Final Four athletes with the largest Instagram audiences, a whopping 16 are women, including Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese, who are dominating March Madness’ wave of social media momentum.

The top players: Fellow Tiger star Flau’jae leads the pack on Instagram with 879K followers, while Reese is second with 533K. Rounding out the top five are South Carolina’s Zia Cooke (235K), Clark (230K) and Cooke’s teammate Aliyah Boston (122K).

• Reese’s following has jumped nearly 20% since the tourney started, and she scored around 14 followers a minute in the two days after LSU secured a Final Four spot. Shoutout Bayou Barbie.

• As for Clark, her Instagram audience grew by over 35K in the hours following Iowa’s Sweet 16 victory, and her combined social media following currently stands at 315K, up from the 248K she had before March Madness.

The platforms: While TikTok comprises the bulk of followers for several WBB stars, Instagram still reigns supreme in the college sports business. The Meta-owned platform hosted 55% of sponsored posts in the last year, while TikTok accounted for just 12.5%, in part because marketers are more comfortable with Instagram.

The context: The massive follower gap between men’s and women’s players can be partly explained by unprecedented upsets in the men’s tourney, but female student-athletes still ace other cross sections. Six of the top 10 highest-followed players on this year’s No. 1 seeded teams are women, and the women’s Naismith Player of the Year nominees have more followers than their male counterparts.

Zooming out: Clark and Reese are coupling their on-court talents with an off-court following that strengthens their brands and dealmaking prospects. Their success also bolsters arguments that advertising dollars are better spent on social media than on TV. Follow the money.