Women’s sports marketing set for take-off
With the Paris Olympics going gender-equal and the WNBA smashing audience records, women's sports marketing is ready for its spotlight.
It’s no secret that Caitlin Clark and a number of other young stars are having a huge impact on engagement with women’s basketball. Clark’s WNBA debut smashed records at ESPN, drawing over two million viewers.
But did you know the Paris Olympics this year will be the first to feature an equal number of women and men athletes? Fifteen percent of adults who plan to watch the Olympics are aware of this. The number rises, appropriately enough, to 25% in France.
These figures come from a new report on women’s sports from SurveyMonkey and sports marketing and sponsorship platform Parity.
Why we care. Brands shouldn’t be sleeping on the kinds of numbers in this report. Of course it’s not new that women sports stars have huge followings and can be key influencers. From Serena Williams to Alex Morgan, that’s been established for a while. But what we’re seeing is that, far from reaching its pinnacle, engagement with women athletes is set to soar — and especially with younger athletes that can connect with a valuable younger demographic: Caitlin Clark and Angela Reese in basketball, for example, or the gymnast Olivia Dunne who at time of writing is still in college.
Other highlights. Here are some other eye-catching statistics from the report, “From Moment to Mainsteam: What Consumers in 7 Countries Really Think About Women’s Sports”:
- More men than women (23% vs. 15%) watch women’s sports.
- 88% agree that pro women athletes are “somewhat” or “highly” impactful role models for the young.
- Respondents were more than twice as likely to buy a product promoted by a woman athlete than another influencer.
- Instagram is the top platform for women athletes (by followers).
- Women’s soccer and tennis are the most popular sports in most of the world (in the U.S. it’s basketball of course).
The survey was based on a sample of around 14,000 SurveyMonkey survey takers from seven countries.
Dig deeper: How HubSpot found the right sports sponsorship partner
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About the author
Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.