Women’s Basketball Is Breaking Records On GIPHY Search. Here’s How.
Packed arenas, record-breaking viewership numbers, Olympic gold medals: It’s safe to say that women’s sports are having a moment, on the court, in culture, and on GIPHY, where search data from 2024 shows more people than ever are searching for women’s sports and athletes.
From the 2023–2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournaments to the 2024 United States Women’s Open Championship, more GIPHY users than ever are seeking a second screen experience as they tune into women’s sports, driving up searches for household names and iconic catchphrases.
We dove deep into our search data across 2023–2024 and found that user demand for women’s sports content is up across the board year-over-year, reflecting a broader shift that is redefining the face of sports. In 2024, we noticed year-over-year growth in searches for women’s golf (+40% for “U.S. Women’s Open”, +21% for “women’s golf”) and Olympians such as Jordan Chiles (+2933%) and Suni Lee (+2053%), but nowhere was this shift more apparent than women’s basketball, which saw the largest spikes in searches throughout 2024.
Below, we break down four GIPHY search trends that prove that women’s basketball — and women’s sports — aren’t just a trend, but here to stay as a dominant force in the culture.
All eyes on women’s basketball
Women’s basketball saw the largest year-over-year increase in searches among women’s sports, with searches for “women’s basketball” increasing by 64% and searches for “WNBA” increasing by 66% in 2024. When broken down month-by-month, we saw that searches for “women’s basketball” spiked the most in March (+111%) and peaked in April, likely coinciding with the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament and the 2024 WNBA draft. Searches for “WNBA” followed a similar trajectory, spiking in April (+144%) and peaking in October during the WNBA finals.
A closer look at search data comparing user behavior during the 2023 and 2024 WNBA finals (Oct. 8–18, 2023 and Oct. 10–20, 2024) also found that searches for “WNBA” increased by 79% between the two time periods, indicating a year-over-year increase in interest in the WNBA.
And, that’s not all: GIPHY users are also driving specific searches to women’s basketball teams. Despite not taking the championship at last year’s NCAA tournament, UConn’s women’s basketball team — the most successful collegiate women’s basketball team in the nation — saw a 60% increase in searches in 2024 for the term “UConn womens.”
Women’s basketball players led search in 2024
2024 was a big year for several women’s basketball players — from JuJu Watkin’s record-breaking college debut to Angel Reese’s all-star rookie season — and their rise was reflected in our search data, which saw explosive demand for player content. Among the crowd, USC’s JuJu Watkins saw the biggest jump in searches between 2023 and 2024, with a whopping 2952% year-over-year increase.
Next to Watkins, WNBA players Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and A’ja Wilson saw the biggest jumps in searches in 2024, with the former leading the group with a 518% increase in searches from 2023–2024. Ioenescu and Wilson saw the third and fourth biggest jumps in 2024, with 408% and 370% year-over-year search increases respectively.
When broken down by search volume, we found that Clark was the most-searched women’s athlete (excluding Australian breakdancer Rachael Gunn aka “Raygun”) in 2024, followed by Angel Reese and Simone Biles.
Hey coach, you’re trending!
While star players are leaving their mark on the basketball court (and search), our users are also tuned into the coaches leading the teams to victory. According to our search data from the 2024 NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments, searches for South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley dwarfed her UConn Huskies counterpart in 2024, with searches for her peaking after the Gamecock’s championship win on April 8. Staley was also the most-searched basketball coach, at the collegiate or professional level, in 2024, with a 229% year-over-year growth from 2023.
Women’s basketball is changing the way we search
Several Gen Z players are also defining the culture through meme-able phrases or moves — creating real-time cultural moments that defined search on GIPHY in 2024. According to our search data from 2024, GIPHY users aren’t just looking for player names, they’re also looking for their viral phrases and plays.
In 2024, searches for “you can’t see me” — famously coined by John Cena and recently popularized by Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark in 2023–2024 — spiked by 15% in April, coinciding with the close of the women’s NCAA tournaments which featured both players at the end of their collegiate careers. Searches for the term declined shortly after and spiked again in July, potentially coinciding with the WNBA All-Star Game, which featured both Reese and Clark in their pro debuts. Searches for the term spiked again in October, potentially coinciding with the 2024 WNBA finals.
We also saw searches for “logo three,” widely associated with Caitlin Clark in 2024, spike during collegiate and professional games where Clark made three-point shots. Searches for the term spiked in March–April, June and September–October through the start of her professional career. Searches for “logo three” also increased 87% year-over-year in 2024. Is it the Caitlin Clark effect? It could be.
GIPHY reaches about a quarter of the world every day, generating one billion searches daily. As we’ve seen, a new generation has taken the reins of culture-defining virality. Gen Z is driving culture on the internet, and their interests create significance. This year, they’ve set their sights on women’s basketball and the impact is overwhelmingly positive.
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