New data explores advertising trends for women’s sports in 2023

The GIST: A new report by EDO — a marketing platform that measures the effectiveness of TV ads — offers metrics about 2023’s women’s sports viewership. It shares meaningful insight on ad engagement trends in sports like tennis and basketball, with data supporting the marketability case for rising stars like Coco Gauff and Caitlin Clark. Let’s dive into the numbers.

🎾 Last year’s Wimbledon was a real ratings winner. The women’s semifinals and finals resulted in the most ad engagement of all major pro women’s sports events in 2023. Wimbledon was 53% more effective in promoting consumer ad engagement than the primetime average and 2% more effective than the US Open’s women’s semifinals.

🏆 Outfitting champions is a winning strategy. New Balance has been with Coco Gauff since the beginning, and in 2023, it paid off. The “Call me Coco Champion” t-shirt Gauff sported after her US Open victory was a “marketing miracle” as New Balance earned the most engagement among women’s sports advertisers and was 203% more effective than the average competitor.

📺 The Caitlin Clark Effect isn’t new. NCAA games last year featuring the Iowa basketball star were 7% more effective for advertisers than games without her. And after signing her to an NIL deal last October, State Farm has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of Clark’s success. Her six State Farm ads were 46% more likely to generate engagement than the company’s average spot.

• And even though Iowa lost last year’s NCAA championship, Clark’s popularity still drove the tournament’s profitability. The Elite Eight saw more ad engagement than the primetime average, ranking only behind Wimbledon and the US Open in this metric.

🏀 WNBA fans are a dream marketing demographic. If the 2024 NBA All-Star Game proved anything, it’s that pro basketball should pivot toward WNBA fans. Ad effectiveness for the 2023 WNBA playoffs was 23% higher YoY and 30% higher YoY for the WNBA Finals — far better than the NBA’s 29% YoY decrease in ad effectiveness during its championship series. A bank shot.