Understand the current landscape, trends, and opportunities within women’s sports in the US. This report examines women’s sports coverage, how fans are engaging, and opportunities for focus. Use Mintel’s expertise to become more informed, and more able to tackle challenges in your industry. Read on to discover the insight you can gain from this report.
Over half of US adults follow women’s sports. While slightly less than for men’s sports, this strong base of followers are in fact — according to Mintel’s exclusive research—more passionate. There is great potential then for more coverage of women’s sports, especially with the majority of women’s sports fans supporting equal coverage to men’s sports. This point becomes important with the fact that only 5.1% of network affiliate sports news coverage is for women’s sports. So, while progress is being made, there’s a lot of headway to be made, and good reason to make it.
Almost half of those who follow women’s sports follow to support the category. This comes alongside the fact that fans are eager to go beyond just attending sporting events; an equal amount like to follow their favorite athletes/teams on social media. A number are also likely to purchase merchandise, or play a women’s sports video game.
Of the women’s sports measured, women’s Olympic sports attract the most viewers, by far, while basketball is at the top of seasonal play. UFC (women fighters) follows a close third behind WNBA, indicating a success for the promotion in its efforts to highlight women fighters.
For non-fans, the reasons behind a lack of interest in women’s sports are similar to those for not following sports in general. Rather than targeting those who simply don’t enjoy sports, leagues should focus on improving coverage to increase awareness and familiarity among existing sports fans.
For women’s sports, the future looks to be tipped toward digital channels. While Mintel’s research finds that broadcast TV is currently the mainstay for fans to keep updated on women’s sports, those aged 18-34 are embracing social media — among other digital channels — as a way to follow their favorite team. This highlights how multichannel marketing could be standard practice for brands utilizing women’s sports to reach consumers.
To understand broader trends in women’s sports, buy our complete report that features over 60 pages of statistics, analysis, and expert recommendations to help you better inform your business decisions.
Sports Organizations: WNBA, NCAA, PHF, LPGA, NWSL, and more.
Brands: Buick, Michelob Ultra, Forbes, Nike, Sports Business Journal, Xbox, Front Office Sports, FanDuel, and more.
This report, written by John Lisec, a leading analyst in the sports and leisure sector, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends in women’s sports and add expert context to the numbers.
Women’s sports are an important and growing segment of today’s sports industry. Women’s sports fans are among the most passionate, yet are an underestimated and overlooked element of modern sports fans. Emerging from the 50th Anniversary of Title IX, women’s sports are set to achieve the next level of success with increased financial investments, newly developed leagues (eg NWSL, PHF), promising NIL partnerships and eager fan bases.
John Lisec
Sports and Leisure Analyst
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