广播公司和赞助商如何推动这一势头？
人们对女子体育的兴趣正以飞快的速度增长。
The 2023 NCAA tournament drew nearly 10 million viewers for the final game between Iowa and LSU—up 103% from the previous year. The WNBA draft audience increased 42% between 2022 and 2023 and was up 89% with female viewers1. Interest in the Women’s Super League increased 81% from 2022 to 20232, and this year, 41% of the global population are excited for the Women’s World Cup, rising from 34% before the 2019 Women’s World Cup3.
这种巨大的转变并不是凭空发生的。这是品牌、赞助商和广播公司投资并优先考虑女性体育的结果。
知名度取胜
Consider how the BBC approached women’s football in the past four years. Previously, women’s football fans had to search high and low to watch their favorite teams compete. While a few games were shown on main linear channels, the rest were tucked away in digital space. But then, in 2019, the broadcaster doubled down on the Women’s World Cup, showing nearly triple the number of matches compared with the Women’s Euro 2017 on Channel 4. Three years later, the broadcaster did it again, prioritizing the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 by airing 26 matches in total4.
资料来源英国观众收视率局
英国广播公司（BBC）不仅在频道时段上给予了更多的关注，还通过综合宣传活动来推广 2019 年和 2022 年赛事以及其他女子运动项目的报道。
Between 2017 and 2019, U.K. viewership rose from 11.7 million to 68.6 million. In 2022, 57.9 million people watched the UEFA European Women’s Football Championship. This growth was largely led by women ages 35+, but in looking at new male audiences, younger fans are particularly interested in women’s sports, reinforcing the diversity of the growing appeal5.
These major tournaments are drawing bigger and bigger audiences, creating a halo effect of opportunity for the players, the fans and the sponsors. Nearly 80% of the general population are now aware of the 2023 Women’s World Cup and 40% find it appealing—the highest scores for any female competition6.
The takeaway is clear: Prioritizing the access and promotion of women’s sports increases visibility and grows audiences and sponsorship opportunities. To do so, broadcasters and sponsors must internalize these three facts.
1: 球迷希望观看女子体育比赛，但仍然很难找到相关报道。
当体育迷们被问及阻碍他们了解女性体育运动的障碍时，他们提到了两个主要因素：缺乏信息和缺乏机会。
According to Nielsen Fan Insights, nearly a quarter of the U.S. population (22%)7 said that there isn’t enough information in the media to keep up with women’s sports. This isn’t just perception, it’s reality. According to the Fans Are Changing the Game report, Nielsen analysis found that ESPN SportsCenter provided 91 seconds of coverage for the average WNBA game and 266 seconds of coverage for the average NBA game, despite claimed interest in the two leagues being much closer.
The second barrier cited is lack of access to live broadcasts. Almost a fifth of U.S. fans (18%)8 said live airings of women’s sports aren’t easily accessible to them. Clearly, fans —including young ones—still want to watch sports play out in real time. Per Nielsen Fan Insights9, 36% of global audiences ages 16-29 are interested in watching the 2023 Women’s World Cup live, which is an even higher interest than viewers 50-69 years old (32%). That’s all the more impressive considering that the Women’s World Cup is in Australia and New Zealand this year—not a particularly convenient time zone for much of the world.
这一报道问题提供了一个宝贵的内容机会。了解受众对女性体育的需求，有助于为内容发行商如何组织、描述和标记节目提供信息，从而帮助改善和利用粉丝的有机搜索和发现。
当访问和覆盖这两个条件都得到满足时，粉丝们就会收听。
2: 球迷希望广播公司和赞助商负责推广女子体育运动。
Sports fans feel that both the media and brands should be responsible for promoting women’s sports10. There are several ways to do this, but they all require intentional, integrated strategies.
Take the BBC example again. Along with broadcasting more of the women’s football matches live, they promoted the tournaments with a full media blitz of TV trailers, out-of-home advertising and digital content. Before the 2019 tournament, the BBC launched a trailer featuring South London rapper Ms Banks. And before the 2022 women’s EURO tournament, the “We Know Our Place” campaign promoted women’s participation not only in football, but also in Wimbledon, the Commonwealth Games, the European Athletics Championships and The Hundred cricket tournament.
Investing in access to and promotion of the actual games is critical to growing women’s sports fandom, but it shouldn’t stop there. Audiences are hungry for more. Nearly 40% of global sports fans are interested in non-live content related to live sports events. This number jumps to 44% when looking at fans ages 16-2911. For both broadcasters and brands, this underscores a clear opportunity to create, promote and sponsor the women’s sports stories fans want.
And fans do love a company that supports their favorite franchise. According to Nielsen Fan Insights, 71%12 of Women’s World Cup fans believe that companies who sponsor the tournament show their commitment to the advancement of gender equality and women’s sports.
说到赞助商，今年是女子世界杯转播权和赞助权首次与男子世界杯大规模分开销售。女足世界杯转播权的松绑对品牌来说是一大利好。将赞助交易拆分开来，可以让广告商更有针对性地投入广告费用，进而扩大这些细分的球迷受众。
截至 2023 年 6 月，国际足联与欧洲五大转播商达成转播协议，确保比赛可在免费网络上观看。这将为球迷提供广泛的观看机会，但由于谈判的延迟，这无疑将对该地区的宣传和转播赞助机会构成挑战，因为他们要在比赛前一个月迎头赶上。
3：粉丝会奖励投资体育的品牌。
Given the emotional connection that fans have with their teams, it’s no wonder that they think highly of their sponsors. After seeing WNBA sponsorships during a game, 44% of WNBA fans claim to have visited the brand’s website and 28% claim to have bought something from the brand—compared to 36% and 24% of NBA fans surveyed for the same sponsorship responses13. And 69% of Women’s World Cup fans believe brands are more appealing when they participate in sports sponsorships—that’s 15 points higher than the general population—and those feelings tend to translate into concrete actions14.
Fifty-six percent of football fans are likely to inform themselves about brands that sponsor sports events (17 points higher than the general population) and 59% would pick a sponsor’s product over a rival’s if prices and quality were the same (14 points higher)15.
When brands and broadcasters are all unified behind women’s athletics, it creates a powerful, positive cycle. When ESPN expanded its coverage of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in 2021, the audience reach of the first round doubled when compared to 2019. That meant more eyes on the athletes and their sponsors, further solidifying the business case for promoting and supporting the tournament.
在 2023 年女足世界杯之前，我们学到了很多。球迷，尤其是年轻球迷，希望关注女子体育运动，但需要更多关于球员、联赛和赛季的信息，以及更方便地观看比赛本身，尤其是现场直播。
为了满足这一需求，广播公司需要优先考虑女性体育运动，使其更容易被发现，并热情推广。与此同时，赞助商也应认识到女性体育带来的商机，尤其是购买意向的增加。
当品牌、赞助商和广播公司为赢得比赛而努力时，观众也愿意给予回报。
资料来源
1Nielsen National TV Panel, Live+Same Day, 4/11/2022, 4/10/2023, Persons/Men/Women 2+
22023, Nielsen Fan Insights, UK
3Nielsen Brand Tracker, FIFA Women’s World Cup, April 2019 – Jan 2023
4British Audience Ratings Bureau
5British Audience Ratings Bureau
6Nielsen Brand Tracker – FIFA Women’s World Cup, Jan 2023
7Nielsen Fan Insights, March 2023, U.S.
8Nielsen Fan Insights, March 2023, U.S.
9Nielsen Fan Insights, January 2023, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, U.K. and U.S.
10Nielsen Fan Insights, January 2023, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, U.K. and U.S.
11Nielsen Fan insights, August 2021: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, U.K. and U.S.
12Nielsen Fan Insights, January 2023, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, U.K. and U.S.
13Nielsen Fan Insights, US 14Nielsen Fan Insights, January 2023, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, U.K. and U.S.
14 Nielsen Fan Insights, January 2023, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, U.K. and U.S.
15 Nielsen Fan Insights, February 2022: Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, U.K. and U.S.
