Os esportes femininos estão tendo mais do que apenas um momento. Graças a uma confluência de forças, os esportes femininos de elite estão desfrutando de um aumento sem precedentes em termos de interesse, audiência e comparecimento.
This is a boon for everyone: the fans who love sports, the brands who want to sponsor them and the arenas and platforms that make the viewing happen. The natural question this raises, how do we keep this going?
A manutenção do ímpeto dependerá da capacidade do setor de mostrar uma vantagem mensurável para aqueles que estão envolvidos no jogo. E a melhor notícia é que isso já está acontecendo.
Para cima e para a direita
Embora a ascensão dos esportes femininos seja maior do que qualquer esporte ou qualquer pessoa, é inegável que o basquete feminino tem estado na vanguarda do entusiasmo este ano.
The 2024 Women’s NCAA tournament averaged nearly 19 million viewers (with a peak of 24 million viewers) for the final game between Iowa and South Carolina — up 89% from the previous year and beating viewership for the Men’s final for the first time ever. The 2024 WNBA Draft audience increased 511% and was up 668% with female viewers ages 2-17. And overall interest in the WNBA grew 29% between 2023 and 2024.
Like a rising tide that lifts all boats, this momentum is spreading beyond basketball. The National Women’s Soccer League had a 17% boost in interest between 2023 and 2024. Interest in England’s Women’s Super League jumped 52% after England won the 2022 EURO—thanks in part to a better broadcasting deal, and is still enjoying gains into 2024. On June 11th, Tennis Channel’s T2 channel began dedicating every Tuesday exclusively to women’s tennis matches, a weekly initiative called Women’s Day. And 2024 is predicted to be the year that the global women’s sports industry finally breaks the $1 billion barrier, a 300% increase from 2021.
O público está lá. O crescimento está lá. E quando você entender o que está impulsionando o sucesso, poderá provar que o valor também existe.
Valor e valores
For years, investment decisions around women’s sports have been largely rooted in DE&I aims. This mindset is important, but it can also be limiting. That’s because women’s sports investments make good business sense. Losing sight of the measurable value undermines its ability to flourish.
Global fans of women’s sports are a diverse group—43% of women’s sports fans are male, and they skew young, are tech savvy and highly engaged consumers. Seventy-four percent of women’s sports fans are the chief income earner in their household, compared to 70% of men’s sports fans. And 57% of women’s sports fans have kids under the age of 18, compared to 53% of men’s sports fans.
Vamos dar uma olhada na WNBA novamente. Em comparação com outros fãs de esportes, os fãs da WNBA têm muito mais probabilidade de se envolver com uma marca on-line, falar sobre a marca com amigos e familiares e realmente fazer compras.
Esses são públicos investidos com poder de compra significativo - o sonho de uma marca. Esse potencial de publicidade deve se traduzir em fortes acordos de direitos de mídia, mas, historicamente, os esportes femininos têm sofrido com a subvalorização. Recentemente, a Nielsen Sports analisou o valor que a Superliga Feminina proporcionou por meio de transmissão e descobriu que era de 18,3 milhões de euros. Esses direitos foram vendidos por 7,3 milhões de euros, o que significa que os direitos de mídia foram subvalorizados em 2,5 vezes. Esse é um problema que os dados corretos podem resolver.
O patrocínio sempre foi um fator crucial de receita para os esportes femininos e, quando a distribuição de transmissões aumenta e torna mais fácil para os torcedores assistirem aos jogos, o valor entregue às marcas patrocinadoras aumenta naturalmente como resultado. Isso cria o crescimento cíclico de que os esportes femininos precisam, proporcionando e medindo o ROI e impulsionando o investimento.
In Nielsen’s Driving Value through Women’s Sports Webinar, Google Sports and Entertainment Strategy Lead Molly Beck shared this anecdote: Google wanted to invest equitable spend across men’s and women’s sports and realized they couldn’t. There wasn’t enough women’s sports inventory. “That led us to realize that one of the biggest challenges is visibility,” said Beck. “Google’s sponsorship creates more reach for the League [WNBA], which then improves the return on our investment.”
Manter a dinâmica
Women’s sports are gaining serious traction with desirable audiences. And it’s done so by following its own playbook. When compared to men’s sports, the audiences are different, media consumption is different and fan expectations are different. This makes it a particularly exciting and vital time for everyone to tailor and sharpen their growth strategies
“[Women’s sports] didn’t get here by using the same playbook as men’s sports” – Molly Beck, Sports and Entertainment Strategy Lead, Google
Para manter e aumentar o ímpeto em torno dos esportes femininos, há quatro pontos principais que as marcas, ligas e detentores de direitos devem priorizar.
1. Melhorar o acesso ao conteúdo
Há uma expressão do setor que diz que é difícil ser fã de esportes femininos e é difícil não ser fã de esportes masculinos. Por quê? Por causa do acesso ao conteúdo, da capacidade de descoberta do conteúdo e do volume do conteúdo. Os esportes femininos nunca terão uma chance real de se tornarem onipresentes se os jogos ficarem escondidos em canais obscuros, se os destaques não forem compartilhados em canais populares e se os editores não criarem mais espaços para o conteúdo de esportes femininos.
Platforms can solve this by creating more content for fans to consume, easier paths for everyone to find it and embracing a test and learn mindset to identify what truly works for these unique audiences and channels.
Leagues, Teams and rights holders can solve this by expanding their understanding of who the fans are, why they love the sports and what kind of content they’re looking for now versus historically.
MarcasTest can solve this by focusing their investment on growing and amplifying women’s sports stories and adding genuine value to the fan experience through consistent and authentic sponsorship.
2. Aprimorar as experiências do evento
Apesar do crescente entusiasmo pelos esportes femininos, muitos eventos importantes ainda são realizados em locais pequenos e antiquados. Veja a WSL, por exemplo. A temporada 2023-2024 teve um crescimento de 43% no público, com o Arsenal quebrando os recordes de público da WSL três vezes e tendo uma média de público maior do que 10 dos times da Premier League masculina. No entanto, apenas 38% dos jogos da WSL foram disputados em estádios da Premier League. Essa discrepância atrapalha o crescimento de todos.
Leagues, teams, rights holders and brands can solve this by investing their activation and marketing spend towards women’s games being played on the biggest stages and delivering the packed and premium event experiences fans want and deserve.
3. Desenvolver nomes conhecidos
Há três coisas que constroem as ligas: Grandes momentos esportivos, competições acirradas e nomes conhecidos. Os atletas conseguem lidar com os dois primeiros, mas precisam de apoio para construir suas marcas. Transformar os jogadores em ícones é cada vez mais essencial para a experiência do torcedor e a visibilidade da liga.
Leagues, teams and rights holders can solve this by making it easier to be a fan through broad distribution and cross-promotions, giving players the tools they need to create effective content and maintaining a deep understanding of what animates their specific fans.
MarcasTest can solve this by partnering with young talent who have a natural connection to the brand. When done intentionally, these partnerships have the dual benefit of raising the athlete’s profile while deepening the brand’s credibility and status among fans.
4. Medir o desempenho holístico
Budgets are under intense scrutiny and pressure is on to show results across every activation. Data is essential, and it must be comprehensive if you want a true picture of performance. Yes, reach and frequency are important but how effective was the creative? Are you tracking cross-channel engagement? Is overall awareness and consideration trending in the right direction?
You need data at every turn. What’s more, you need committed investment to understand what impact you’re delivering over time. One-and-done campaigns rarely succeed in capturing and optimizing all potential ROI.
Leagues, teams and rights holders can solve this by understanding the goals of your brand and broadcast partners, measure against the outcomes they want and deliver actionable results to fuel continued testing and learning.
MarcasTest can solve this by outlining clear goals and objectives and remaining patient and committed to holistically measuring results. True connection and impact takes time and requires a measurement framework that captures the entire partnership across tangible and intangible values.
Quando todos ganham
In Nielsen’s Driving Value through Women’s Sports Webinar, WNBA Chief Growth Officer Colie Edison closed the conversation out with this: “[Women’s sports] is a microcosm of the broader experiences of women in the workplace: Men are judged by potential, and women are judged by performance. We need to break the cycle that has continued to undervalue women and women’s sports.”
“We need to break the cycle that has continued to undervalue women and women’s sports.” – Colie Edison, WNBA Chief Growth Officer
Quando os esportes femininos têm espaço para brilhar, apoio de marcas e detentores de direitos e estruturas de medição para capturar o valor holístico, todos ganham.
