By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
A new report from advertising research organization EDO shows the brand value of women’s sports is increasing by double digits annually.
The study focuses on advertising, but it carries an important message on the rapidly growing value of women’s sports, particularly for female consumers.
EDO is a company that developed new and more effective ways to measure the impact of advertising. Among the research it conducts are studies on the effectiveness of advertising in sports.
This month EDO released its inaugural Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report. The report found double-digit year-over-year improvements in TV ad effectiveness during women’s sports programming, including tennis, WNBA, and NCAA basketball, which were the top women’s sporting events for advertisers in 2023.
The research group says that, with the start of the NCAA’s March Madness Tournament and the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League season fast approaching, “marketers must recognize and harness the power of women’s sports in driving business outcomes.”
“Naturally, the growing interest in women’s sports presents a major opportunity for TV advertisers,” said Laura Grover, SVP, Head of Client Solutions, EDO. “After all, live sports have consistently been the TV programs most successful at driving consumers to engage with brands that advertise during them — generating key outcomes like online searches that are proven predictors of future sales.”
EDO’s report is designed to illuminate growing advertising opportunities throughout the world of women’s sports, in basketball, soccer, tennis, and more. However, the same attraction that causes more people to pay attention to advertising is also valuable for the licensing industry, as that brand value is what propels retail sales of consumer goods.
In particular, Grover says star female athletes are catching fire as major influencers, resulting in major deals with top industry brands.
“Women athletes like Coco Gauff and Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark are powerful brand representatives during the ad breaks, delivering strong results for brands like New Balance, State Farm, and more,” Grover said. “As women’s sports continue to gain popularity, this opportunity will only grow more appealing for advertisers.”
At the same time that female athletes and women’s leagues are attracting more advertising dollars, their branded merchandise is also selling at a brisk pace.
For that reason, we’ve summarized some of the key conclusions from the EDO report here, showing which leagues and sports are growing fastest, the ability of female athletes to draw eyeballs, and how sportswear brands are jumping on the bandwagon.
In terms of the most dominant sports categories, tennis unsurprisingly remains at the top of the list. Women’s tennis has been popular for many years, and interest is only growing. The women’s Wimbledon and U.S. Open matches secured the top two spots in all women’s sports programming, outperforming the average primetime broadcast and cable ad by 53% and 51%, respectively.
However, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is growing at an astronomical clip. EDO says ad engagement is growing rapidly year-over-year across the Regular Season (7% increase from 2022), Playoffs (+23%), and Finals (+30%).
Male-focused advertisers are also seeing success during WNBA programming. Among the top advertisers in the WNBA, male-centric brands such as Bosley Hair Restoration, Old Spice, and Hims outperformed the average WNBA advertiser by 341%, 134%, and 51% respectively.
Thanks to better ratings across both linear TV and streaming platforms, sportswear brands have increased their engagement in campaigns that feature women athletes. “Adidas (+69%), Puma (+62%), Nike (16%) and Vuori (+8%) aired ads starring women athletes in 2023 and saw an impressive increase in effectiveness compared to the average ad for that brand across broadcast and cable in 2023,” EDO says.
As for female athletes who have become major influencers, there’s no better example than University of Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark (pictured above, in photo by John Mac), who recently set the all-time collegiate scoring record for both women and men.
“The Caitlin Clark Effect is a slam dunk for NCAA women’s basketball advertisers, as games featuring the player from The University of Iowa outperform games without her by 7%,” EDO points out. “Clark has appeared in six different State Farm creatives following her first brand appearance in November 2023, where her ads are 46% more likely to generate engagement than the average State Farm ad since.”
Top Brand Advertisers in Women’s Sports Programming
The report also highlights the diversity of advertisers that have capitalized on an increasingly engaged women’s sports audience. The top advertisers in 2023 include:
- New Balance ads were 203% more effective than the average women’s sports advertiser in 2023.
- Kesimpta +173%
- Cadillac +171%
- Liberty Mutual Insurance +134%
- TRESemme +128%
- Ruffles +125%
- Old Spice +172%
- Invesco Funds Group +116%
- Vagisil +96%
- Ritz Crackers +95%
This is just a short summary of some key points made in the report. You can visit edo.com/women-sports to download EDO’s Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report, which includes more detailed information on which brands, leagues, sports, and events are most successful at generating outcomes.