A detailed view of the Atlantic Coast Conference signage ahead of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and Florida State Seminoles game during the second round of the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum on March 2, 2023 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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Female athletes are competing for larger fandoms, higher viewership, and more media coverage. Recently financial ally advertising buy with DisneyESPN’s focus on women’s sports is possibly the biggest deal – in terms of importance as well as the amount of money attached.
The multimillion-dollar one-year deal requires 90% of its investment to go into women’s sports, through an expansion of gaming highlights, branded content and features on ESPN.
“We really think the most important thing is to make the most fundamental change in women’s sport,” said Stephanie Marciano, head of sports and entertainment marketing at Ally. “It’s rare for brands to buy media contracts or buy sponsorship deals where they’re so oriented towards women’s sports,” she said.
Disney’s deal ties into a new three-and-a-half-year Allied sponsorship of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), the conference tournament that begins this week, which airs on ESPN. The bank is the first major sponsor for both the ACC Women’s Basketball League and the ACC Women’s Soccer Championship, and will also be the exclusive showcase sponsor for the 2023 ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship.
It’s part of a larger shift in how Ally spends her advertising budget, with a five-year commitment to split paid advertising equally between women’s and men’s sports coverage.
“There are a lot of positives in women’s sports and a lot more,” said Jon Patricof, CEO and co-founder of Athletes Unlimited, a network of professional women’s sports leagues. It hasn’t been done yet, and I think marketers are realizing that.”
Since making a 5-year commitment, Ally has collaborated with global supremeof CBS Sports and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) to move the 2022 Ally Financial NWSL Championship to its prime time slot for the first time.
A big money year for women’s sports in 2022
Ally’s deal with Disney follows a successful year for women’s sports on the media front, with sponsorship deals up 20% year over year, according to sports and entertainment intelligence platform SponsorUnited . In addition, the The first network to focus on female athletesThe sports network for women, launched this past fall and college female athletes have expanded their ability to secure NIL . deals.
Alphabetby Google announced A multi-year partnership with sports website The Athletic in November promises to double news coverage of women’s sports, with a focus on football and the WNBA, as well as more staff. and more resources. Google has previously leveraged its partnership with the WNBA to help the league broadcast more matches, including partnering with ESPN to ensure every knockout game is broadcast.
From Gatorade And Nike allies and Hilton Hotels & Resorts, more brands across more niches are increasing their advertising budgets towards women’s sports. Athletes Unlimited, which operates the basketball, softball, volleyball and lacrosse leagues, saw sponsorship revenue increase 122% year over year. It announced this week an extension of an agreement it has had with Nike since the organization’s founding in 2020.
According to Athletes Unlimited data, social media engagement can be an added benefit for brands. It cites an average engagement on sports social media of less than 2%, compared to Athletes Unlimited’s engagement rate of almost 5%. “So there’s over-indexing on engagement, and then if you look at our individual athletes, it’s like 11%,” says Patricof. In his view, that is leading companies including Ally to realize that an important and growing part of the value in sports social media engagement remains unrealized. present and unexploited.
According to technology and marketplace company “names, images and similarities” Opendorse, female athletes paid by NIL are 19.6% more engaged in social media activities for transactions. their performance compared to male athletes, excluding football.
Patrick Rishe, director of the sports business program at Washington University in St. Louis, said the popularity of content across platforms is driving a lot of action. Brands understand that not only is there more content, but women’s sports are also a key component of that content. Meanwhile, the NIL agreements in college athletics have created another avenue for female athletes to gain greater exposure.
“All of these things come together and just make this dynamic,” says Rishe. “We can talk about people like the skier Chloe Kim. We can talk about Livvy Dunne, the gymnast at LSU. We can talk about Alex Morgan of the US women’s team. Ky. [National] Football team. These are just three names, three different women at three different stages in their lives… all leverage social media, digital media to a different extent to elevate their brands. . Ten years ago, you wouldn’t have this,” he said.
According to Opendorse, six women’s sports made the list of the top 10 NIL indemnified sports, although by the total amount, men’s soccer and basketball accounted for about 70% of the money, with NCAA football alone just under 50%.
LSU’s Olivia Dunne warms up on uneven bars during a gymnastics match against Auburn at Neville Arena on February 10, 2023 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Stew Milne/Getty Images)
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Sponsoring women’s sports also gives brands access to what experts call a “change” narrative.
According to a recent IBM survey, “purposeful” consumers now make up the largest segment of the buying public, at 44%.
“Part of advertising and part of the reason you make these deals is that you’re building this cultural capital with consumers,” says Rishe. “If you stand for equity and you represent that by partnering with women’s sports, then you’re hoping that will resonate with your existing customers. And perhaps it will attract newer customers that match that.”
It was a big part of Patricof’s introduction to the world of corporate media buyers.
“In women’s sports, there is now a great opportunity to not only get a direct return on your investment, but to get that intangible value in the mind of the person,” he said. fans and athletes”.
For Ally, bigger deals and long-term deals are the next step. “We feel good about this trend and I think the 20% figure will continue to grow,” Marciano said of revenue growth in 2022 for women’s sports sponsorship. “We have an important year ahead. So we’re excited to keep up the pace for the rest of the year and appear at major women’s sporting events and events.” She added.
