BVA Group, a research and consulting firm specializing in behavioral science, has released the preliminary results of a survey on the role of brands and media in women’s sports in France. The study was conducted on a representative panel of French people, combined with the analysis of the activity of sports brands on social media for 12 months. The WomenSportsValues by BVA barometer shows that only two sports brands were mentioned spontaneously by respondents as sponsors of women’s sports in France: Adidas and Nike. They were cited by 24 and 22 percent of respondents, respectively. The other sports brands lagged far behind and did not really emerge against non-sporting brands. Le Coq Sportif was indicated by only 5 percent of respondents, followed by Puma, Decathlon, and Lacoste, all at 4 percent. Non-sporting brands EDF, Crédit Agricole, Coca Cola, Orange and Française des Jeux (FDJ) also stood at 4 percent.
The study has found that sports brands on their social media increasingly represent women’s sports, but with significant differences between international brands and French brands. In the Instagram accounts of Adidas and Nike, for example, women’s sports accounted for 69 and 62 percent of the contents, respectively, as compared to 27 percent for Lacoste.
The French follow women’s sports primarily on television (88 percent) and to a lesser extent in the press (31 percent) and online media (27 percent). However, they would like to see more of it. For 65 percent of the participants in the survey, women’s sports are not sufficiently represented in the French media.
The survey data was collected between March 29 and April 4, 2022, from a representative online sample of 2,000 French residents aged 18 and older. In addition, market analysts examined sports brands’ activity on social media over the past 12 months.
