The BackPage Weekly | From Likes to Leagues: The Game-Changing Role of Social Media in Commercialising Women's Sports

By Alex Harvey & Jonny Madill

With just six days to go until the much-anticipated FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in Australia and New Zealand, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Relo Metrics, the leading sponsorship consultancy who have been paving the way in women’s sport in recent years, to take an in-depth look at the role and importance of social media in the commercial growth of women’s sport. This piece includes some exclusive insights on the latest trends across the Women’s Super League (WSL) and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

📱 Social Media | A Catalyst for Change

It wasn’t that long ago that sponsorship activations were limited to traditional forms of media (TV ads and print ads), and that put female athletes at the behest of the sports marketers and executives controlling the purse-strings. As a sportsperson, you were either given a platform or you weren’t, and most of the time brands and their marketing departments favoured the more well-established and well-known male counterparts.

The prominence of social media platforms over the past 5-10 years has turned that model on its head and enabled female athletes to take matters into their own hands. They can now engage audiences, build a narrative, and connect with fans in ways which weren’t previously possible; and most importantly, they can do it without having to rely on anyone else to amplify the message. This levelling of the playing field in terms of visibility and exposure in an increasingly online world is arguably one of, if not the, biggest drivers of growth and professionalism in women’s sport.

📈 Female Athletes | Driving Growth

The central role and popularity of individual athletes in driving the growth of women’s sport cannot be underestimated. As highlighted in UEFA’s comprehensive ‘The Business Case for Women's Football’ Report, almost 60% of women’s football fans aged between 18-25 would consider following a different team if their favourite player moved to another club (compared to just 30% of men’s football fans). As UEFA puts it, “the players are the game’s most powerful asset – they have a unique power to inspire fans, draw fans to clubs and influence how fans consume content. This trend is an opportunity for clubs and leagues to take steps to become more player centric, prioritising player welfare, improving salaries and creating a more professional environment”.

Insight provided by Relo Metrics supports the idea that it is primarily individual athletes who are attracting new fans and driving growth through their online presence. In the WSL, for example, England’s Toni Duggan has a Facebook follower count (379,000) which dwarfs that of her club, Everton Women (46,000); and even at a club the size of Manchester United Women, Ella Toone’s TikTok following is almost half that of the club’s following (295,000 v 711,000).

The popularity of individual athletes as the central pillar and driving force behind the growth of women’s sport is a trend which we anticipate will continue, particularly as other stakeholder groups (including clubs and leagues) start to buy-in to the concept of player-led activations and storytelling. 

🏆 Clubs & Leagues | Beneficiaries

As clubs become more attuned to exploiting and commercialising the rights and key moments of their star players, they too are benefitting from a growing social presence. Data from Relo Metrics finds that the follower count of each WSL club across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter grew by a considerable +17% on average during the period of September 2022 – April 2023 (+13% on Instagram, +23% on Facebook and +15% on Twitter). The same trends ring true across the WNBA too. According to Relo Metrics’ data, WNBA teams saw an average follower count growth of +11% across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok between May 2022 – December 2022, with growth on TikTok far outperforming the other social media platforms (+234% for TikTok v +13% on Instagram, +17% on Facebook and +11% on Twitter). 

The explosion of all-access, behind-the-scenes content has undoubtedly played a role, with the players’ relatable personalities often front-and-centre (see this video of Manchester City’s Kerstin Casparij at puppy yoga, or this interview of Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert and Zećira Mušović, for example). It would not come as a surprise to see the likes of Amazon commissioning more behind-the-scenes docuseries following women’s sports teams and their star athletes in the near future (Netflix appear to have caught on already with their recent release of Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport, a new documentary featuring England’s Lionesses, the Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano bout at Madison Square Gardens, and Poppy Cleall’s journey to the Rugby World Cup 2022). 

Cameron Galloway, Implementation Consultant at Relo Metrics, believes the global appeal of the upcoming World Cup presents an exciting opportunity:

“the lead-up to the FIFA Women's World Cup is the perfect opportunity for clubs to leverage their star players and build content strands around them. Off the back of the Lionesses’ success during the Euros, we at Relo noted that eight of the top ten most valuable WSL player accounts belonged to Lioness players. This clearly shows that the World Cup can be a significant opportunity for all clubs represented at the tournament, but also those clubs which aren’t represented can use the social momentum to develop their social media strategy.”

🏀 Commercial Value | Engagement

As the popularity of women’s sport continues its upward trajectory, more and more brands are starting to open their eyes to the untapped potential and new commercial opportunities which arise through aligning themselves with women’s sports’ more progressive and family-oriented values. Relo Metrics is able to evaluate the effectiveness of sports sponsorships through their ‘Sponsor Media Value’ (SMV) calculation, and their data illustrates the engagement which brands are experiencing across women’s sport.

In the WNBA, for example, an analysis of the teams’ social media accounts during the 2021 season v the 2022 season showed a +48% growth in average SMV per post on both Instagram and Facebook. Similarly, in the WSL, there was a +58% growth in average SMV per post on Instagram between September 2022 – April 2023 (largely due to a +76% increase in engagements) and an even higher 129% growth on Facebook (driven by a +233% increase in engagements).

Marco Giavazzi, Solutions Consultant at Relo Metrics, views this data as symptomatic of the wider trends:

“This data is yet another confirmation of the industry wide interest and investment in women's sport, which is shared across different sports at various levels. The NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four is another great example. Not only did the Women’s Final Four generate nearly a 3x higher SMV than the Men’s Final Four on social media; ESPN also registered a record-breaking 9.9 million viewers during the NCAA Women's Championship game – a 103% increase since 2022”.

⏩ Looking Forward

Maya Herm (Senior Manager at Relo Metrics and the brains behind the ‘Women’s Football Collab’) points out that there is still a long way to go, however:

“Despite some progress in visibility, our findings reveal that the majority of women's teams continue to lack access to their exclusive data sets. The assessment of sponsorship worth is either completely overlooked or merged indiscriminately with data from men's teams. Consequently, there remains a persistent danger of undervaluing women's football, depriving players of profitable opportunities. We are steadfast in our resolve to bring about a transformation in this landscape”. 

It's going to be fascinating to watch that transformation play out in the future.