If networks don’t promote their new female sports leagues they will die
While there’s been a big fanfare over the launch of women’s sport leagues in recent months they will fade without sustainable advertising, argues Jessica Mackenzie.
Working in media and sponsorships, and leading in to 2017, we have seen a lot of presentations on what the big network and publisher houses have coming up for the new year, and how they can work with brands to integrate into upcoming shows, or sports sponsorships.
This year more than previous years, there have been numerous announcements that the coverage of women’s sports will increase monumentally.
While the attempts have good intentions, they almost play out like a favour to the women’s leagues. If the industry, both publishers and planners, put in half as much effort telling the market they are focusing on women in sport this year as they do actually promoting it, we might get some great content out of them that brands could actually be interested in.
Well said Jess! The networks must invest to make these products fly. Personally I love the netball.
A(wo)men
Spot on Jess
Sadly it’s already happening – Optus screened the first match of the WBBL live today on Optus Sport without a word from any of their social media outlets or any of Cricket Australia’s
Wow, the inequality in promotion is daunting. Jess has it right in saying brands won’t want to attach their names when the networks lend such minimal efforts
What are you talking about? It was all over the various Cricket Australia, Big Bash and Channel 10 facebook and twitter accounts.
Agree Nicholas.
Watched it over the weekend and loved it. In the years I have been watching women’s cricket their skills have improved out of sight, and their ability to clear the boundary with the bat, and as demonstrated on the weekend to accurately return he ball from the boundary is simply fantastic.
I love that women’s cricket, the sevens, AFL etc are being shown – it was way overdue. The netball series was as exciting as always.
I look forward to the continued improvement, bigger games, and better TV (and online) audiences. Sadly, in this pay-for-performance world the remuneration for women’s sport will lag until they can repeatedly draw audiences of considerable size.
I agree that Channel 10 has been very good in promoting the league.
However Optus also showed live wBBL matches during the day, and have been showing multiple international women’s and youth football competitions, without the blink of an eye from their social media accounts, and barely anything on their own website.
Why is it that ABC, SBS and The Guardian’s news pages only feature men’s sport? Men will watch it if you put it in front of them. Start.