Stephen vs. Sabrina contest illustrates various benefits of NBA–WNBA collaboration

The GIST: Last Saturday’s Stephen vs. Sabrina 3-point challenge was the first formal competition between an NBA and WNBA player during All-Star Weekend. Seeing the athletes on equal footing proves we’re beyond the “Battle of the Sexes” dichotomy — fans simply want to see legends of the game compete, something that will help both leagues. Here’s the competition, by the numbers.

📺 10M: The number of unique viewers in the U.S. who watched the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night on TNT, truTV, and B/R Sports on Max. Viewership was up 54% YoY, making it the most-watched NBA All-Star Saturday Night in four years. Notably, the audience peaked at 5.4M viewers around 10:15 p.m. ET while Curry and Ionescu were facing off.

📱 60K: How many Instagram followers the NY Liberty star gained in the three weeks after Curry challenged her in January, with 20K hitting the follow button the day after the event was officially announced. As for Curry, his Instagram post about the competition was his second most-liked this month so far.

👟 1.3M: The number of views on Nike Basketball’s post supporting its signature athlete at Curry’s expense before the competition. UnderArmour, which has a shoe deal with Curry, sent a reply that got plenty of engagement, offering an example of brands organically interacting with signature athletes to promote their products.

📈 30%: The increased ad effectiveness YoY during the 2023 WNBA Finals, while ads from the 2023 NBA Finals were 29% less effective YoY. After boosting YoY viewership for the WNBA All-Star Game last summer, loyal W viewership seems to have amplified the 2024 NBA All-Star festivities. Who run the world?