‘Tell Us More’ is a content series that highlights PhotoShelter clients and other creative marketing innovators who challenge the status quo with radical content strategies and leading-edge practices. Take notes on the expert advice shared below!
We’re calling it: 2022 might be the biggest year for women’s sports in the past 10 years.
Here’s a recap of the 2022 Highlights for Women and Girls in Sports worldwide:
- We’re still celebrating the road to equality: 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX—a civil-rights-based law that protects all people from gender-based discrimination in education or sports.
- Finally! People are starting to see a woman’s worth: Alex Morgan is the most endorsed athlete (period!) of 2022 with 27 brand deals attached to her NIL. That’s right—a woman signed more deals than any NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, or NHL athlete this year.
- According to Nielsen, in the UK alone 59% of the population have an active interest in women’s sport. For brands, that means an opportunity to engage with a potential market of 24 million people. Want to learn more about how UK brands use real-time workflows to power their global teams and audience content needs? Keep reading.
- Investment dollars are skyrocketing! Across all leagues, women’s sports have seen a 20% year-over-year increase in sponsorships, according to SponsorUnited’s 2022 Women in Sports report.
- During the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Reddit co-founder, multi-millionaire investor (and most importantly, Serena Williams’s Husband) Alexis Ohanian took to Twitter to show his support and enthusiasm for the game—and ultimately ended up putting his money where his mouth was and investing, big time (Hey Angel City FC!). Quoted on Forbes.com, he says, “Women’s soccer, in particular, I believed was tremendously under-resourced, under-marketed, undervalued, underappreciated, under-supported, the list goes on. I saw it first and foremost as a tremendous business opportunity.”
- The audience views are #ALLTHEWAYUP!
- In the UK:
- A record 15.1 million people watched women’s sports in the first quarter of 2022 and since 2021, audiences for women’s sports have doubled according to recently reported figures from the Women’s Sport Trust (WST). The average UK women’s sports viewer also watches one more hour of programming than they did in 2021, indicating increased interest.
- England’s win over Germany in the Uefa Women’s Euro 2022 final was the most watched women’s soccer match ever in the UK, reaching a peak live audience of 17.4 million on the BBC and 5.9 million streams on digital platforms. After the event, online streams for Women’s Euro 2022 on the BBC increased to 18 million, compared to 13.1 million for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019.
- In the US:
- The National Women’s Soccer League matches saw record attendance this year. According to Front Office Sports, the NWSL saw a 31.5% increase in fan attendance in 2022, which smashed their previous record that was set back in 2019.
- Professional women’s basketball and women’s college basketball are both climbing the leaderboard for the number one #moreviews spot. Abraham Madkour, Publisher and Executive Editor of Sports Business Journal recently reported that this year ESPN had its best WNBA Draft audience since 2004 and its best NCAA women’s basketball championship viewership in nearly 20 years. Plus, according to a WNBA press release, “The WNBA finished the 2022 regular season delivering its most-watched regular season in 14 years. Viewership across its national television partners – ABC, CBS, ESPN, and ESPN2 – was up 16% over the 2021 season.”
- In the UK:
Although ‘We’re Not Done Yet’ in terms of establishing safe, equitable, and fair circumstances for all female-identifying people worldwide as recent report findings show, women and girls in sports have exceeded their goals and wildest dreams this year.
So, in addition to celebrating their wins, we asked brand-building geniuses like Deandra Duggans, Vice President of Brand Marketing for 2022 WNBA Champions, The Las Vegas Aces to break down their successful creative marketing strategies and recent, pivotal career moves.
