Sports publishers are shoring up intel on women’s sports audiences to “make them even more enticing,” as several publishers said that these efforts have “worked to lure advertisers -- both new to sports or historical supporters of men’s sports -- into buying women’s sports,” according to Kayleigh Barber of DIGIDAY. Gannett President of National Sales Kelly Andresen said that coming off March Madness earlier this year, marketers started to “inquire more eagerly about opportunities to advertise against women’s sports,” but at the time expressed that there “wasn’t enough inventory available against this content to scale enough to meet their ROI goals.” Andresen added that filling that inventory gap is an “opportunity that Gannett is planning to take advantage of this year.” Barber noted the uptick in interest has been "coming from a lot of the usual suspects of sports advertisers." The Athletic VP/Advertising Lauren Funke added that she “expects to see new brands and ad categories coming into the mix as audience numbers continue to pace upwards.” Vox Media CRO Geoff Schiller said that new brands from a variety of categories have been “inquiring about running against the company’s women’s sports coverage for the first time.” One agency exec said that at the price point of ads against women’s sports coverage there is “still a significant difference from the price of men’s sports ads.” Barber noted viewership for women’s sports "may be up 200-300% in some instances" (DIGIDAY, 6/27).
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