Marketing Briefing: Marketers eye women’s sports as a growth area amid WNBA draft, record March Madness

Tickets to the WNBA’s draft, which was held last night in Brooklyn, New York and aired on ESPN, reportedly sold out within 15 minutes in what may be yet another signal of the growing power and audience for women’s sports. Marketers are continuing to take notice as the space is seen as a burgeoning growth area for brands, that are predicted to invest more this year.

As marketers look for growth areas amid an increasingly fractured media landscape with few water cooler moments, live sports has only gotten more important for marketers. The audience growth has been notable. Last fall the University of Nebraska’s women’s volleyball team set a world record with its attendance as 92,003 attended; this year marked a first as March Madness title game for the women’s teams scored 18.7 million eyeballs. The network attention shifts — for example, National Women’s Soccer League (NSLW) inked a deal with CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video and Scripps Sports for game coverage this year — is another factor that has agency executives continuing to see women’s sports as an opportunity.

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