Parity partners with SurveyMonkey for a robust global study on women’s sports fans

The GIST: Last Thursday, Parity — a sponsorship platform that connects brands with women athletes — released a study in partnership with SurveyMonkey. The results contain the “most robust” data on women’s sports fans globally, Parity CEO Leela Srinivasan told The GIST.

• Gathering data from over 14K respondents across seven countries, the study offers key insights and new findings on how women’s sports fans engage with the game and its players. Let’s dive in.

📈 Sports fans are watching more women’s sports than ever, especially men. Around 30% of women’s sports fans are watching more women’s sports this year compared to last, which may be tied to its increase in accessibility.

• The data also dispels the myth that only women care about women’s sports. In fact, more men (23%) watch women’s sports daily or weekly compared to women (15%), and 30% of men are watching more women’s sports in 2024 than they did in 2023.

📺 The desire to watch women’s sports is universal, but the reason varies across countries. Srinivasan noted that fans in most countries want to support women athletes, but in Germany, the top reason sports fans tuned in was the quality of play, while Spanish fans largely cited increased media coverage. If you build it…

📱 Women athletes are the ultimate influencers. The majority of respondents (88%) believe professional women athletes are impactful role models for young women, and women’s sports fans are especially primed to be swayed by these influencers, which Srinivasan said she has seen anecdotally through her work with brands.

• Respondents were 2.8x more likely to purchase a product backed by a woman athlete compared to another type of influencer, while those who watch women’s sports daily or weekly were even more likely.

• Instagram is the top platform for engaging with women athletes, followed by Facebook and YouTube. Australians, Americans, Canadians, and Brits were the most likely to follow women’s sports and female athletes on social media.

💰 The global majority want to see more brand investment in women athletes. Over half of all people surveyed believe brands aren’t investing enough in women’s sports compared to men’s, with respondents from France believing this at a higher degree (66%) than any other surveyed country. Liberté, égalité, sororité.