In addition to sponsorships, the report presents data on social media engagement by brands and athletes.
A SponsorUnited released a report revealing significant growth in sponsorships for women’s sports in 2023. According to the study, there was a 22% increase in sponsorship contracts from the beginning of 2022 to the beginning of 2024. The leagues that stood out the most were the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the Womens Tennis Association (WTA), each with a thousand agreements.
The WTA in particular saw a remarkable 26% growth compared to the previous year, totaling 1,080 deals. Furthermore, the Womens National Basketball Association (WNBA) surpassed the 500 sponsorship mark for the first time, with an increase of 7% compared to 2023. The National Womens Soccer League (NWSL) had an increase of 18%.
Meanwhile in England, the FA WSL saw an 11% increase in sponsorship deals. With emphasis on Naomi Osaka, who leads among global athletes with 19 agreements. In Brazil, Aline Reis was mentioned in the report with 15 sponsors.
This significant increase is largely attributed to the snowball effect driven by an increase in media coverage and viewership in women’s sports: greater media exposure leads to an increase in viewership, resulting in greater awareness. And this increase in notoriety attracts more attention and involvement for the brand, bringing additional financial resources, highlighted the company.
Among the brands with the highest number of sponsorships in women’s sports, Gatorade leads with 51 contracts, followed by Rolex e Coca Cola. When it comes to athlete sponsorships, Hologic is the main brand, with contracts with 35 players.
Regarding engagement on social media, the Instagram continues to be sponsors’ favorite content sharing channel, with almost 80% of posts and more than 90% of audience engagement. Then the TikTok it also presents a significant engagement, with a rate of 4% among the athletes’ followers.
In terms of modalities, women’s golf leads with the highest engagement rate (4.1%), followed by European football (3.75%).
Among athletes, American university gymnast Olivia Dunne has the largest audience among athletes in North America, with 12.5 million followers on different platforms. Globally, tennis player Iga Swiatek leads in terms of engagement, with 17.1 million interactions on her posts, but it was Alisha Lehmann who gained the most followers, with 9 million in the period analyzed, followed by Mary Earps and Aitana Bonmati, with 1.5 million more fans each.
*With information from MKT Esportivo
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