Women are massive sports fans, yet feel unseen by teams, leagues and sponsors. This is the result of a recent study by The Collective.
The study, titled The Collective Economy Part II: Her Fandom, Her Buying Power, is a data-driven contribution and a portrait of women sports fans as consumers and decision-makers in the sports industry. The new report builds on the success of The Collective Economy: A Global Understanding of Women’s Buying Power, which explored women’s broader consumer power. The new installment also looks at what leagues, teams and brands could do to capture women sports fans’ attention.
“Women are both powerful consumers and avid sports fans, and have a fraction of the time men fans do to participate in the fan ecosystem. Rights holders and brands need to begin to consistently cater to ‘her’ for long-term loyalty that can span generations,” said Thayer Lavielle, Managing Director of The Collective, in a statement.
According to the new report, 84 percent of women sports fans are key decision-makers in sports-related purchases. Nevertheless, for 66 percent of women sports fans, sports organizations do not understand or appeal to them, while 39 percent say brands fail to completely understand them as fans of sport. Furthermore, 50 percent of non-mothers feel especially misrepresented by brand marketing strategies.
“Redesign fandom, put women at the center”
The new study is a call to action, explain researchers, encouraging brands and rights holders “to redesign fandom with women sports fans at the center.” The study is based on custom survey data from more than 7,100 women across 10 countries.
The Collective is Wasserman’s global advocacy and advisory business dedicated to driving investment in women across sports, music and entertainment through research, campaigns, activations and partnerships. Wasserman, headquartered in Los Angeles, is a global sports, music and entertainment company with presence in 28 countries and more than 70 cities.
You can download the full report here.
