Goodbye, ChatGPT. Hello, WNBA.
After a season marked by viewership and attendance records and a roster of new sponsors, the women’s basketball league landed at the top of Morning Consult’s annual Fastest Growing Brands report, which is determined by comparing the share of consumers who said they were considering purchasing from a brand in Q3 to Q1. ChatGPT previously topped the list in 2023.
The WNBA was the only sports league to make the list, which otherwise included several brands from the food and beverage, streaming, and AI categories.
Take the dub: The WNBA clocked in as the No. 1 fastest-growing brand among all US adults, with a 3.82-percentage-point increase in the share of respondents who said they’d consider purchasing in Q3 compared to Q1. The league also saw notable growth among men and older generations.
- It was the fourth-fastest growing brand among men, with a 5.03-percentage-point increase.
- The W landed in the 16th spot among Gen X, and was 10th among baby boomers.
- It fell lower on the list among women (18th), and it didn’t appear on the demographic breakdowns for Gen Z and millennials.
Across income demographics, the W was the seventh-fastest growing brand among people with an annual household income under $50,000, 16th among people with an income over $100,000, and fourth among “financial elites,” who are people with incomes over $100,000 and have “$50,000 or more invested in some kind of financial assets,” according to Morning Consult Brands Analyst Ellyn Briggs.
This year marks the first time a sports league has been No. 1 on the fastest-growing brands list, as well as the first time a women’s league has appeared on any of Morning Consult’s lists, Briggs told Marketing Brew.
Little treat: Food and beverage brands, especially candy and snacks, showed up repeatedly in the rankings among all US adults.
- Ben & Jerry’s and Brisk Iced Tea followed the W at No. 2 and No. 3.
- SmartWater tied Disney+ at No. 7.
- Pizza Hut came in at No. 9.
- Gatorade and Wendy’s tied for 11th, with Gold Peak Tea and Gatorlyte following at 12th and 13th.
- Häagen-Dazs, Ritz Crackers, Popeyes, and Sour Patch Kids also made the top 20.
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The increased preference for sweet treats could be indicative of the effects of inflation and lingering negative perceptions of the economy, Briggs said.
“We saw very few brands that can be tied to bigger-ticket items, like fashion or luxury or travel,” she said. “We usually always see a little bit more of those types of categories pop up in these lists, so that just told us, I think, that consumers are really trading in some of those bigger splurges for more everyday treats.”
Streaming wars: Among streaming and video platforms, YouTube Shorts was the highest-ranked brand among all adults, followed by Disney+. But there are demographic divides, with Pluto TV seeing the most growth among women. No streaming services made the Gen Z list, but TikTok and Meta did.
“That speaks to a broader challenge facing the streaming industry right now,” Briggs said. “It’s fragmented…so I think that that’s a big challenge that the streamers will have to take a look at in the next few years to see if anyone can consolidate power [and] really stretch across different generational lines.”
Tech talk: Last year’s fastest-growing brand, ChatGPT, fell off the list this year, but Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Gemini AI tools both made the cut at No. 5 and No. 18, respectively. That could mean AI is here to stay, Briggs said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see AI brands in our next five years of fastest-growing brands,” she said.