Women’s sports are booming. With ratings up for basketball and soccer, a new report says volleyball could be the next big thing.
Horizon Sports & Experiences on Wednesday issued a report pointing to continued growth and encouraging media companies and sponsors to invest in women’s sports. Some advertisers are joining the lineup and new leagues are being formed.
The Caitlin Clark effect has already benefited the WNBA. That helped the league secure a $2.2 billion, 11-year rights deal with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video.
2024 was a milestone year for women’s sports, according to Kerry Bradley, senior VP, strategy for HS&E, the firm co-founded by former Turner and Turner Sports President David Levy.
Bradley told Barrett Media that not so long ago, TV execs, Levy included, didn’t have data showing there was enough potential return on investment to putting a women’s game in a coveted time slot. “There’s only so many hours in a day and men’s sports have always been a safer bet in terms of reach and scale,” she said.
The female stars of the Olympics and college basketball’s big number are changing that perception.
Now Levy’s company is prioritizing investing in women’s sports, with the launch of the Shark Beauty Women’s Champions Classic college basketball event airing on Fox and Unrivaled, a women’s three-on-three hoops league whose game will appear on Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT, truTV and Max.
“More marketing and media dollars are being spent to spotlight the stories of female athletes and that creates more awareness, more buzz, more household names, creating rivalries between Kaitlin Clark and Angel Reece,” Bradley said. “That means more eyeballs, more advertising dollars and more advertising dollars means more resources for the [leagues] to create better in-venue experiences, which drives more ticket sales, which drives the media rights up. There’s this flywheel effect happening.”
The next women’s sport that could make an impact on TV could be volleyball. Bradley said volleyball is the fastest-growing sport in terms of participation among high-schoolers. It is posed to explode at the professional level.
Right now there’s not much women’s volleyball on TV, but HS&E’s analysis of ratings trends for NCAA volleyball and beach volleyball telecast shows a 126% increase. “That’s a positive growth trajectory if I’ve ever seen one,” Bradley said. This month, ESPN will be televising all of the games in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championships.
One professional women’s volleyball league, The Pro Volleyball Federation, started in January and drew 3.9 million viewers on YouTube. Another outfit, League One Volleyball (LOVB) will launch in 2025. Bradley said League One is particularly interesting because its teams are forging links to local youth leagues.
“You got a built-in pipeline, you’ve got a built-in infrastructure, you’ve got a built-in fan base,” she said. “It captures eyeballs, hearts and minds. I think it’s going to be big.”
To get really big, ad dollars are needed. At this point, Bradley said that only 6% of Fortune 500 brands invest as women’s sports sponsors.
Women’s sports fans should be attractive to media and advertisers. First of all, they’re not just women. According to HS&E’s report, the audience for women’s sports is 55% male and 45% female–not very different from the skew in men’s sports.
Women’s sports viewers are also engaged with teams on social media and more importantly they’re “fiercely loyal” to their favorite teams and players. HS&E’s research found that 67% of fasn choose to reward brands that sponsor their favorite athletes and teams, Bradley said..
“To know that two-thirds of the audience is going to not only take note of and become aware of my brand, but then potentially make a point of intentionally and consciously supporting my brand but just because I’ve showed up for women’s sports, that makes it a really interesting investment opportunity,” she said.
On top of that the cost to sponsor women’s sports is much cheaper than men’s sports, and with fewer advertisers involved, there are more opportunities to stand out in women’s sports and build relationships with fans through authentic integration.
Sponsors Pay to Play
Giant media buyer GroupM, for one, has noticed. It recently said that it exceed its goal of doubling annual media spending on women’s sports in 2024.
GroupM clients expanding their involvement in women’s sports include adidas, Adobe, Ally, Coinbase, Danone, Discover, Domino’s, DoorDash, Google, Indeed, Mars, method, Nationwide, Target, TJ Maxx, Unilever, Universal Pictures and Volvo Car USA.
Women’s sports programming sponsored by GroupM client appears on Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount and YouTube.
“Doubling spend in women’s sports within a matter of months marks a significant milestone for our company and the industry alike,” said Matt Sweeney, Chief Investment Officer, GroupM US. “While some clients have long been pioneers in this space, others are now broadening their commitments or making first-time investments. This surge of momentum reflects more than a passing trend — it’s a full-fledged movement.”
Employment website Indeed jumped into women’s sports as Presenting Sponsorship of Thursday Primetime Women’s College Basketball on Disney’s sports platforms and bought the WNBA Feature Sponsorship on Paramount’s.
“By amplifying visibility, embracing innovation, and fostering equity in sports, we are setting a new standard for what’s possible across all sectors,” Carmen Graf, global VP of marketing at Indeed. “Engaging with this audience is not just good business; it’s essential. Indeed champions salary transparency, promotes fair and equitable workplaces, and advocates for better work for all. Supporting women’s sports underscores our commitment to creating a more inclusive landscape across every field.”
If you need evidence that sponsoring women’s sports works, EDO, a data company that measures the impact of ad campaigns.
EDO’s recent Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report revealed double-digit year-over-year improvements in TV ad effectiveness during women’s sports programming, with major events like tennis and basketball emerging as top performers for advertisers in 2023, GroupM noted.
Sounds like a win.
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