STN Digital and Zoomph share insights on media value, performance across WNBA team socials

The GIST: Marketing agency STN Digital and partnerships insights platform Zoomph teamed up to evaluate more than 20K pieces of social media content from WNBA teams throughout the regular season, releasing their “WNBA Social Rankings and Insights Report” last week.

• The data illustrates how each W team fared on social media during this season, singling out the highest-performing teams and content in terms of engagement and media value. Burnin’ up.

🔥 The Indiana Fever remains the most popular. The Indianapolis team boasted a league-best social value ($55.04M), engagements (38.73M) and impressions (1.17B) during the regular season. In terms of estimated social value, the Fever were followed by the Dallas Wings ($8.61M), Las Vegas Aces ($7.64M), Minnesota Lynx ($7.54M), and Chicago Sky ($6.35M).

• It’s likely no coincidence these teams feature the WNBA’s most popular athletes, including Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, A’ja Wilson, the StudBudz, and Angel Reese.

💸 But the Wings are taking flight. Though it comes in at a distant second in social value, the Dallas franchise saw the most dramatic YoY growth. After the Wings landed 2025 Rookie of the Year Bueckers with the No. 1 overall pick, engagements spiked 505%, impressions increased 251%, and social value went up 344% since 2024.

📷 Photo outperformed video across X and Facebook. On average, photos created nearly twice the engagement than videos on both platforms: They performed 1.9x better on X and 1.8x better on Facebook. Additionally, photos comprised 18 of the top 20 posts on X and 15 of the top 20 on Facebook. A picture really is worth a thousand words.

🤝 And on Instagram, WNBA–NBA crossover posts won over fans. According to the research, five of the top six team posts analyzed spotlighted collaborative moments between the two basketball leagues.

The takeaway: The report included the clubs’ most valuable social media post, led by a Fever YouTube video worth an estimated $733,594 in social value and an Atlanta Dream Instagram vid worth an estimated $226,555. These moments were powered by iconic players — there’s little more quintessential than Clark sinking a deep three or Renee Montgomery cheering on the Dream.

• That’s what makes athlete partnerships a continued point of consideration as brands look to win over audiences organically. As the media landscape continues to change, sponsors working on scalable and authentic videos for social — potentially in collaboration with both basketball leagues — is imperative.