The women’s game is officially entering its renaissance era. Deloitte predicts that the profits generated through elite women’s gaming will exceed $1 billion by 2024, a prediction that will soon come true as more gaming enthusiasts eagerly request women’s gaming content. This year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament drew more viewership than the men’s tournament, with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese catapulted into celebrity prestige as the two rookies now take on the WNBA. It’s not just women’s basketball that’s in the spotlight. This month, Disney will launch a mini-series about tennis icon Serena Williams (sponsored through Morgan Stanley) and the 2024 Paris Olympics will have a 50-50 split between athletes for the first time in Olympic history.
The progress made in women’s football is not new. Last summer, an incredible array of women’s sporting events captured the world’s attention, from Wimbledon and the Women’s World Cup to the X Games and the second Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. Unfortunately, what is the inequality faced by female players compared to men is also not new. Although the figures paint a transparent picture of the excessive profitability of women’s football when invested well – with brand, media and media buy-in – women still have to fight to justify their position at the negotiating table. For example, the 2024 NCAA women’s tournament had a higher audience than the men’s tournament, the women’s tournament only grossed $6. 5 million in television rights, compared to the men’s $873 million. tournament. In other words, prejudice against women leads to objectively bad business decisions.
Looking back at last week’s exciting Women’s Vert festival at the X Games and seeing the skill and immediate progress of the skaters, it’s remarkable to think that before last year, this occasion didn’t even exist. In fact, one of the most exciting X Games festivals – Green Best Trick, a traditional classic for men – was only added this year for women. when phenom Arisa Trew battled the first woman to score a 900 at a festival and when 9-year-old Mia Kretzer made history as the youngest X Games gold medalist. It’s everything that makes the game worth watching, and it’s simple to see how a success deserves to be from a business perspective. So how was it possible that it took so long for women to be included in what pretends to be the mecca of skateboarding?
After all, this year’s X Games also added the women’s BMX Park to its lineup, where Hannah Roberts, who will make up Team USA, will be in the U. S. team. At the U. S. Olympics later this month, he won gold. This is a big, hard-won step forward for women in the sport. , and yet, the X Games still don’t have a festival for women’s BMX Street, while the men have seven different medals in BMX. It’s hard to perceive when you look at the numbers: according to Bloom BMX, the women’s BMX Instagram Reels got more than 3 million prospects for the X Games (more than 3 times more than the men’s park combined).
A recent study by Parity and SurveyMonkey found that 73% of respondents watch women’s matches (only 8% less than men’s) and 64% feel this policy isn’t enough. The survey reveals that 53% of all respondents globally that brands are not investing enough in women’s football compared to men’s. This lack of investment is a significant loss for brands that turn a blind eye to women’s football, especially as 88% of respondents say that female professional athletes are notable role models. and women’s sports enthusiasts are 2. 8 times more likely to buy products recommended by female athletes.
It’s not just a media policy about women’s sports that’s missing: studies conducted through Klarna and Sports Innovation Lab indicate that 79% of respondents would buy more women’s sporting goods if they had more options. Knowledge shows that 60% of respondents intended to buy women’s sporting goods, but didn’t do so simply because there weren’t any in stock, and Women’s Sports only has one item available for every nine men’s sporting goods. The call to action exists and refusing to respond to it is simply bad business.
Angie Marino in the broadcast booth for the first medal of the women’s BMX Park at the X Games Ventura. . . [ ] 2024
The numbers prove time and time again that there is an appetite for women’s sport, so why are more brands investing and profiting from it?What does it take for sponsors to act in their own self-interest?As the wonderful American tennis player Billie Jean. King told The Cut: “The men’s team has more cash. But why do they have more cash? Because media rights are where all the cash is. We want to get more attention. It’s starting to happen now for the first time in my life. I’ve been waiting my whole life for what’s happening right now: things like billionaires investing in women’s sports. King is also the founder of the Women’s Sports Foundation, one of the first organizations to generate investment for women’s sports. sport. Sport is a business, and like any business, profits require investment. Just as investing more in women-led companies is mandatory to be successful, more accelerators, venture capital funds and even individual investors are critical to women’s sports profitability.
U. S. companies are also starting to realize what they’re wasting by no longer engaging with female athletes and sports teams.
Medalists Perris Benegas, Hannah Roberts and Kim Mueller in the first women’s BMX Park final in Array. [ ] X Games Ventura 2024
It’s evident that gaming enthusiasts need more, whether it’s a better policy of their favorite groups or more women’s gaming products on the shelves. Still, female athletes, groups and leagues have had to fight tooth and nail over media policies and logo deals. even if they are just as popular, if not more so, than men’s games. The numbers don’t lie: the women’s game creates business opportunities. And progress in the women’s game is slowing at a breakneck pace; Hesitates and risks missing out on a big score.
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