A neon pink cloud rolled toward me, illuminating the dimly lit Indianapolis convention center in which I stood. Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, dressed in matching blush track suits and fuchsia hair, made their way through a sea of euphoric fans participating in an activation put on by Unrivaled (the 3x3 league created by their Lynx teammate Napheesa Collier). Tenzin, a member of the pair’s management team, followed close behind with a phone held horizontally, nestled casually in the palm of her hand. If one wished to interview Williams and Hiedeman over WNBA All-Star weekend, that meant joining the duo’s 72-hour Twitch livestream, entitled StudBudz (which doubles as a nickname for the pair). As I asked Williams and Hiedeman about their webcast’s meteoric rise to becoming a cultural phenomenon around the W, I felt an existential pang as an itch took hold of my brain that I couldn’t quite scratch. To bear witness to the StudBudz was to assume a minor role as an extra in their Twitch universe. It was all very meta, which is precisely what had made StudBudz the WNBA media juggernaut it has become.
