Why companies should consider more female sports in their sponsorship strategy
Interest for women’s sport is rapidly growing around the world. According to the organising committee, 1.35m people attended the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a record for the tournament. Despite their growing popularity, female sports are still a somewhat untapped market in terms of sponsorship.
More and more female sports fans
The FIFA Women’s World Cup is a growing force, as proven by the number of teams involved – a record of 24 teams competed this year, whereas only 12 teams took part back in 1991. The tournament’s growth has also seen an increasing number of global viewers and fans attending the matches live.
TV audiences for the 2015 Women’s World Cup were up in most countries compared to the previous tournament in 2011. The opening game of the 2015 Women’s World Cup pulled in more viewers than Sky Sports’ coverage of Barcelona vs. Juventus in the UEFA Champions League Final – both games were played on the same night. Last year, England women’s team attracted more than 45,000 supporters for a friendly match against Germany at Wembley.
There are a number of reasons to explain the growing interest. One reason is that, in some cases, women are more successful than their male counterparts. For example, the Australian women’s national team reached the World Cup quarter final and Paris Saint-Germain women reached the Champions League final.
Companies are already sponsoring female sports
Back in 1993, Nike were the first to sign a female football player in Mia Hamm. Fast forward 22 years and they were sponsoring 11 teams at the 2015 World Cup. And now Adidas and Puma are beginning to invest heavily in the market too and EA Sports has introduced female players for the first time to their hugely popular FIFA game franchise.
Even companies not associated with the sports industry are considering female sports. British company SSE signed a 4-year title sponsorship deal worth millions with the Women’s FA cup.
The opportunity to attract female audiences and sports fans in general through female sports is huge.
Increasing coverage in the media
Demand for more female sport on TV is already substantial as of today. According to the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 60% of all sports fans want to see more live TV coverage of women’s sport.
Furthermore, revenue opportunities are huge – according to Reuters, ad revenues for Fox News, which aired the 52 matches during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015, reached ￡19.8m.
Facts and figures prove that women’s football catches more and more people’s attention. Following on from the legacy left behind by the 2015 Women’s World Cup, brands and companies should look to include more female sports stars in their sponsorship strategy.