{"id":23536,"date":"2023-04-13T09:30:14","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T14:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/?p=23536"},"modified":"2023-04-13T09:30:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T14:30:15","slug":"why-brands-should-be-elevating-womens-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/2023\/04\/why-brands-should-be-elevating-womens-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Brands Should be Elevating Women\u2019s Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Women\u2019s sports have never been more popular. A couple of weeks ago, women\u2019s college basketball\u2019s March Madness ended with LSU defeating Iowa. The Tigers\u2019 102-85 victory over the Hawkeyes averaged 9.9 million viewers \u2013 a 104% increase over last year\u2019s national championship game between South Carolina and UConn \u2013 making this year\u2019s game the most watched NCAA women\u2019s basketball game ever. Viewership for the Tigers\u2019 victory was more than last season\u2019s college football Sugar, Orange and Cotton Bowls and even beat the season average for the NFL\u2019s \u201cThursday Night Football\u201d on Amazon Prime (source: Axios Sports<\/a> and NBC Sports<\/a>). This increase in viewership and overall interest in women\u2019s college basketball may surprise some, but it shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Beyond women\u2019s college basketball, there\u2019s a tremendous amount of momentum around women\u2019s sports, which will undoubtedly be on full display this summer when the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup takes place in Australia and New Zealand. According to a report from the National Research Group titled \u201cFuture of Women\u2019s Sports: Leveling the Playing Field,\u201d<\/a> three out of 10 sports fans in the United States said they watch more women\u2019s sports now than they did five years ago. The report also found that younger generations have the fastest-growing appetite for women\u2019s sports with 39% of Gen Z sports fans saying they are watching more women\u2019s sports now than a year ago. What\u2019s causing this shift in interest? Well, 38% of fans said they watch more women\u2019s sports now because they see games as more entertaining and competitive than in the past. But what\u2019s most interesting about the survey results is that three of the other key drivers of increased engagement with women\u2019s sports are all about exposure: an estimated 41% of fans say they watch it more because there are simply more women\u2019s sports being broadcast on television, 32% said there is more press and attention around women\u2019s sports and 25% said women\u2019s sports are being talked about more on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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This tells us that increasing engagement around women\u2019s sports is more of a supply-side issue \u2013 the more women\u2019s sports are covered, the more fans will watch and engage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Luckily, investments are being made to do just that. Fast Studios recently launched<\/a> The Women\u2019s Sports Network, a dedicated 24-hour streaming service across several digital platforms. The Women\u2019s Sports Network will cover the LPGA, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the World Surf League (WSL) and women\u2019s sports news. Plans are in the works to stream other events too. In addition to The Women\u2019s Sports Network, Just Women\u2019s Sports, a \u201cone-stop shop for all things women\u2019s sports” has made major movement in its coverage of women\u2019s sports, including the National Women\u2019s Soccer League (NWSL), WNBA, women\u2019s college sports and more through podcasts, video and even merchandise. There is also Togethxr, The Gist, espnW, On Her Turf, The Equalizer, The IX and HighlightHER \u2013 all platforms that have built strong communities by delivering unique perspectives and social-forward content specific to women\u2019s sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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The increased interest in women\u2019s sports combined with the evolving media landscape will undoubtedly impact brands.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Lead with Women: <\/strong>Especially with Name, Image, Likeness (NIL), the amount of women athletes that can be leveraged to promote and support a brand is larger than ever. With many of these athletes wielding significant influence, brands should utilize women athletes to be front and center in marketing and communications programming \u2013 and if the social following<\/a> of women\u2019s college basketball players is any indication, they shouldn\u2019t be surprised if the response is considerably more impactful than what would have been driven by a man.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Increase Access and Visibility: <\/strong>Although women\u2019s sports have never been more popular, let\u2019s not forget that there\u2019s so much more that can still be done. Brands need to think about how they can help increase not only access to sports for women, but the visibility of those sports and athletes. For example \u2013 girl\u2019s flag football has started gaining significant momentum in a few states, but the vast majority of this country lacks organized leagues. There are many brands that exist across industries that could certainly help with this, perhaps by being an investor and providing the financial support needed for the leagues to grow and thrive. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Leverage Employee Engagement Benefits: <\/strong>A lot of this conversation is centered around the benefits to brands externally with target consumers, but it shouldn\u2019t be understated how much impact partnering and engaging with women\u2019s sports could have internally with employees. If an opportunity presents itself to partner with a female athlete or a women\u2019s sports property, brands should consider how they can leverage those for employee engagement purposes, whether that means inviting partners to an internal event or developing a piece of content that\u2019s designed specifically for employees. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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The women\u2019s college basketball March Madness only reinforced what many already believed \u2013 the popularity of women\u2019s sports is about to explode. As this happens, however, so too will the responsibility for brands to continue to support and foster women\u2019s sports. But as big as the responsibility is, the opportunity is even bigger. Don\u2019t be left on the proverbial sideline.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Download the report here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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FH Sports\u00a0is a global team of experienced communications professionals who live and breathe sports. From iconic to emerging, we shape the narrative for the world\u2019s most transformative brands in sports \u2013 from sponsors and brands, to teams, leagues and governing bodies and events. Delivering data-driven, creative and memorable ideas that are designed to connect with avid and casual fans, we place our clients at the epicenter of the sports and culture conversation to drive their business forward.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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For more information, please contact\u00a0<\/em>FH-SportsLeads@fleishman.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Women\u2019s sports have never been more popular. A couple of weeks ago, women\u2019s college basketball\u2019s March Madness ended with LSU defeating Iowa. The Tigers\u2019 102-85 victory over the Hawkeyes averaged 9.9 million viewers \u2013 a 104% increase over last year\u2019s national championship game between South Carolina and UConn \u2013 making this year\u2019s game the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":23537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expertise","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fleishmanhillard.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}