Meta shared new insights into rising engagement with women’s sports content across its apps, which could present valuable opportunities for brands.
Meta’s report includes insights on the increased popularity of women’s sports content, which has seen notable growth of late.
As explained by Meta: “Women’s sports is a $3 billion industry growing 4.5x faster than men’s sports. And across many leagues, sports and markets, the growth is accelerating simultaneously. What makes this audience different from any other growth story in sports is how it engages: social-first, always-on, and commercially active. Fans follow athletes, not just teams. They show up daily, not just on game day.”
In a video, Nicola Mendelsohn, head of Meta’s global business group, shared a range of data points to support this growth:
- 128 million people combined now follow the top 10 women athletes on Instagram
- Women’s sports power over 20,000 groups on Facebook
- Last quarter, WNBA content reached over 1.2 billion views on Meta, while women’s soccer generated 900 million views
The company also said that an increasing number of sports fans are social-first, meaning that they primarily interact with sports content on social apps. Judy Toland, vice president of global audience at Meta, said in a video that 445 million sports fans engage with brands on Meta every month.
In terms of brand opportunities as a result of this engagement, Nicole von Kaenel, Meta’s director of global partnerships, said in a separate video:
- 68% of sports fans will try a product that their favorite athlete uses
- 76% of sports fans say that athlete content directly influenced what they bought
In order to tap into this, Meta said that brands should look to partner with women athletes and tap into a rising market, which is loaded with untapped potential.
“In most sports categories, brand positioning was settled years ago,” Meta said. “The partnerships are locked, the associations are built, and new entrants compete on price for diminishing returns. Women's sports is the rare category where position is still being claimed. The brands entering now aren't buying into an existing hierarchy. They’re creating it. They’re becoming the names fans associate with the sport itself, the ones that shape what partnerships look like and what fan expectations become as the category matures.”
Meta said that brands could find big value in this category, with a range of outreach opportunities waiting to be discovered across its apps.
