The WNBA scores innovative streaming deal with a sports startup backed by Michael Jordan and other stars

• The WNBA partnered with sports startup Buzzer to provide viewers unique access to live game action.
• The mobile app enables fans to purchase partial or full games featuring favorite players or teams.
• Buzzer has raised $20 million in funding and is backed by Michael Jordan and other sports stars.

There's a new way to watch your favorite basketball players and games.

The WNBA struck up a deal with sports startup Buzzer to provide viewers a unique access point to live streaming content. The mobile platform - which enables fans to tune in for specific snippets of live games featuring their favorite players or teams - will now offer access to WNBA games and highlights via WNBA League Pass.

Buzzer already has similar agreements in place with the NBA, PGA Tour, and NHL, but its new partnership with the WNBA is the innovative streaming app's first with a women's professional sports league.

"Every market signal indicates that there's an incredible appetite for women's sports, yet there are still massive barriers to entry for fans to discover and watch," Buzzer founder and CEO Bo Han said via a brand release. "Buzzer serves as a bridge to bring the magic of live sports to more fans."

"Through this partnership, we hope to help convert the incredible awareness and cultural currency the WNBA is experiencing into actual tune-in, bringing an even larger live audience to the league and its players," he added. "A true sports community cannot exist without women's sports represented, and we're thrilled to welcome the WNBA onto the platform as we further our commitment to an even playing field with the democratization and elevation of women's sports."

Buzzer takes a novel - and decidedly "Gen Z" - approach to sports viewership, allowing sports fans to personalize their feeds by choosing to receive notifications for specific players, teams, and leagues. If they'd like to further engage after taking a look at one of the app's signature 10-second previews, users can make in-app purchases of full live events or smaller segments of the live action. A single game package is $1.99.

For example, if a WNBA fan is particularly interested in New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, they can elect to receive push notifications on their phones about her performances. Should the former Oregon Ducks standout enjoy a particularly strong stretch of play or approach her signature triple-double territory, the Buzzer app will issue an alert and allow the fan to preview the event before buying into the action within the platform itself.

"With Buzzer, fans will have the opportunity to watch all the amazing moments in real time night after night in the W: incredible athletes, epic plays, history-making moments, and the thrill of close games or buzzer beaters," Ionescu, a Buzzer investor herself, said in the press release. "As someone that spends so much time on my phone, Buzzer is a product that caters to how I, and many other Gen Z fans, consume sports."

"Buzzer recognizes the importance of amplifying women's sports and reaching younger generations of sports fans," she added. "And this partnership with the WNBA is just the first step in realizing our mission to advance visibility of women's sports."

Though it was only founded last year, Buzzer has already raised $20 million in funding and is backed by some of the biggest names in sports, including Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Naomi Osaka, Patrick Mahomes, J. Cole, LaMelo Ball, and Devin Booker, as well as Ionescu and WNBA player-turned-owner Renee Montgomery.

For the WNBA, the deal with Buzzer represents an opportunity not only to cater to existing fans, but also to attract new viewers. The league has proven itself time and time again when given a suitable platform on broadcast television; the WNBA had more televised games than ever before in 2020, and despite ratings dips across much of the world of professional athletics, unprecedented viewership followed. The WNBA saw a 68% increase in its regular-season audience, a 15% viewership jump for the finals, and 30% more engagement across social media.

With yet another point of entry via Buzzer, the league could further broaden its reach and draw in viewers who otherwise may not have discovered WNBA action elsewhere.

"The WNBA is proud to become the first women's professional league to join Buzzer's expanding lineup of major professional sports to be offered on the platform," WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. "We are continually looking for innovative ways to engage and attract fans, and this partnership with Buzzer will provide greater exposure to our game and will showcase the elite play on the court by WNBA players."