Will TV Finally Play Fair with Women's Sports?
How should women’s sports be valued in the new TV landscape?
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Will TV Finally Play Fair with Women's Sports?
Despite the fact that women comprise 50.5% of the U.S. population, women’s sports receive a mere 15% of all sports media coverage, as revealed by a 2023 Wasserman study. Women’s sports have gradually gained popularity since the passing of the Title IX in 1972, but to date, television deals for women’s leagues have been underwhelming or nonexistent.
There are signs of change, though. An evolving media landscape and economic pressures have forced both traditional and digital media companies to reevaluate their strategies. In the scramble to shore up audiences, drive subscriptions, and increase engagement, streaming services and traditional media companies have realized that live sports are their safest bet. Broadcast, cable, and streaming demand for live sports is at an all-time high, and record television rights deals are being handed out.
How should women’s sports and leagues be valued in this new landscape?
A common refrain is that women’s sports can’t possibly match the interest or audience deliveries of their male counterparts. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Too often, their broadcast partners give these leagues a fraction of the support and visibility that men’s leagues receive, and viewership suffers. When the full resources of a broadcast partner are behind an event or league—meaning favorable viewing windows, pre-and post-game studio shows, athlete profiles, and even discussions of odds—we’ve seen women’s sports deliver mass audiences and drive conversation. Here are just a few examples:
Let’s consider the Olympics, a level playing field for media coverage of men’s and women’s sports. Women’s sports made up 57.55% of NBCU’s primetime broadcast for the Tokyo Olympics. It was this on-air support that made Women’s Gymnastics, Basketball, and Soccer some of the most anticipated and watched events of the games. (We’re eager to see the stats measure up for the Paris Olympics.)
Viewership for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Finals has been building over the past six years. This year, Caitlin Clark became one of the most discussed athletes in the nation and garnered around-the-clock coverage from NCAA broadcast partners ABC and ESPN. The 2024 NCAA Women’s Final, featuring Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes, attracted 18M viewers, outdrawing the Men’s Final by 4M viewers.
ESPN has made the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) a centerpiece of their spring programming. Viewership for this year’s series-clinching game was 2M, making it the most-watched WCWS game on record.
The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final (USA vs. Japan) currently stands as the second most-watched soccer match in U.S. history at 26.7M viewers.
Media rights deals are on the rise
With proven viewership potential, media rights deals for the WNBA and the National Women’s Soccer League could set benchmarks for future women's sports league negotiations. The NBA and WNBA recently secured an 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal with Disney, NBCU, and Amazon. Although the league did not reveal the exact value, it is believed the WNBA piece of the deal could be worth as much as $200M a year, more than tripling its current annual payout. In 2023, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) signed a four-year, $240M deal with CBS, ESPN, Prime Video, and Scripps Sports. The new deal is a huge increase over the previous three-year, $4.5M agreement with CBS.
Smaller or lesser-known women’s leagues also present opportunities for those looking to acquire live sports. Unrivaled, a three-on-three women’s basketball league similar to the men’s Big3 league, is currently looking to secure media rights. Smaller leagues like Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and Women’s Professional Fastpitch (WPF), also deserve the consideration of national broadcast partners. Change will truly be evident when smaller women’s leagues are given the opportunities and exposure afforded to men’s sports like the Premiere Lacrosse League on ESPN and Big3 Basketball on CBS.
Stereotypes and bias have prevented women’s athletics from reaching their due place in entertainment. Media companies rarely act for altruistic reasons, so here’s my pitch: Do not elevate women’s sports because it is the right thing to do (although it is); do it because it might just make money! The audience is there, the interest is growing, and the financial incentives are becoming increasingly apparent. It's time for media companies to get it right and give women’s sports the spotlight they deserve.
Chip Walters is a media strategy analysis and communication leader and with more than 20 years of experience supporting premier entertainment studios and broadcast/cable networks. He is known for his ability to synthesize and communicate complex data to internal and external stakeholders. Chip was most recently SVP of Research for The CW Television Network.
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