Supporting Women in Sports with Accountable Advertising

Recently, SHE Media CEO sat down with  5x WFA winner and Wide Reciever for the Boston Renegades Adrienne Smith to discuss the role of the media in advancing women in sports. Media coverage for women athletes plays an essential role in the progression of women's sports and women in sports as increased attention consequently means more advertising dollars. Perfectly stated by Smith during their conversation:

“the prevailing thought was that women and girls didn’t want to play sports or that no one wanted to watch them play sports and we’ve seen that change”.   - Adrienne Smith

The impact of Title IX — a landmark law that gave women athletes the right to equal opportunity in sports in educational institutions — opened the door for women and girls to participate in college sports. Media coverage for women’s sports and an influx of advertisers' dollars present another opportunity to support women athletes. According to a Statista report, 44% of Gen Z prefer women’s sports over men’s and women's sport sponsorship deals increased 20% year over year in 2022 (Adage, 2022).

Yet, in 2022 Women’s Sports total 4% of all sports media coverage (Adweek, 2022). The way advertisers and corporations think about women's sports has to change as more fans are starting to pay attention. Advertisers are realizing the potential and that it is a win-win situation. However, there is more to be done. As Samatha Skey put it perfectly “intent is not enough”. 

SHE Media continues to provide coverage of women's sports by highlighting the stories of women athletes like the recent VIBE x VOTY cover of Adrienne Smith and working behind the scenes to draw more attention to women in sports. This also aligns with SHE Media’s mission to channel more advertising dollars to underserved publishers with our Meaningful Marketplaces initiative and Group Black partnership.

Watch the Acontable Advertising TEDxTalk below