With highly skilled athletes, strong TV coverage, and growing audience interest, ad campaigns in women's sports are currently thriving and provide excellent opportunities for ad sales teams to offer efficient connection with local audiences.
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The Local TV ad sales teams, who are actively seeking alternatives to the substantial political spending of last year, are now strategically pivoting towards local sports content. This shift is now being bolstered by compelling and attractive marketing packages that they can quickly create that cater to both regional and national advertisers. Local TV ads, especially those aired during live sports events, offer significant value that extends beyond the traditional primetime slots, providing advertisers with robust engagement and extensive reach. It has become increasingly evident that for advertisers across a diverse array of sports and platforms, including the rapidly growing streaming services, leveraging sports with local TV ads is crucial.
Here's my brief analysis of why local sports TV campaigns maintain their value, even outside of the coveted primetime hours: By effectively packaging local advertising offerings, they can swiftly be positioned to compete with digital placements, and are emerging as the new 'green field' of opportunity. Whether it's by running ads alongside engaging clips and replays, within the context of sports shows, or during post and pre-game content, TV ad sales teams are now equipped to offer an ever-expanding array of opportunities. These opportunities allow advertisers to engage with sports fans beyond the live events themselves—and potentially even persuade more viewers to tune into live games. Here's why this approach can be so effective for media owners.High Viewer Engagement
They analyzed every single national TV ad across a range of recent women’s sports programming, to identify the events, advertisers, and celebrity spokespersons that are putting points on the board for advertisers. From the WNBA to the NWSL, the NCAA Tournament to Grand Slam tennis. See which women’s sports events were most effective for TV advertisers. Read how celebrity athletes like Cameron Brink and Sophia Wilson (née Smith) lifted brand performance for advertisers like SKIMS, Nike, New Balance, Gatorade, and Ally Financial. Review which brands are driving engagement and have room to grow — and which ones would be well-served by going back to the locker room to review their women’s sports game plans.
We pulled together a summary of where advertisers can find impressions during women's sports coverage across the entire year. The majority of activity is between March and October on both broadcast and cable providers. See chart below.
Strong Reach and Visibility
In light of these ongoing significant trends, a swift response by sales teams can empower advertisers to effectively reach and engage with sports fans. Local TV sales teams and local media buyers are now well-positioned to simplify the navigation of the diverse sports landscape, offering multichannel sports-focused proposals that cater to the evolving needs of advertisers.