New strategic solution connects brands to the growing fandom of women’s sports by delivering a seamless and scaled approach
February 11, 2025 – New York – Publicis Sports, the dedicated sports agency within Publicis Media, today announces the launch of Women’s Sports Connect, a unique solution that helps advertisers and sponsors invest in women’s sports, at scale.
Women’s Sports Connect is a holistic offering that brings custom opportunities to clients across media, content, sponsorships, talent/NIL/influencer, and events. Designed to be an always-on flywheel of opportunities, Publicis Sports also layers in expertise across strategy, consulting, and measurement, as well as access to Publicis-exclusive opportunities, IP and data-driven products. Together, this solution helps clients properly invest, optimize, measure, and achieve desired outcomes when it comes to women’s sports.
With this solution, Publicis Sports has invested ahead of the marketplace and also funding original content that celebrates and uplifts female athletes, including Roku’s recently announced Women’s Sports Now, a weekly talk series that shares stories of the elite women at the heart of women’s sports; and a first-of-its kind student-athlete empowerment program, being developed by NBCUniversal Local’s Sports Partnership Development team and revolutionary sports media brand The GIST, to provide college athletes with unique experiences and curriculum focused on harnessing NIL opportunities and advancing professional development. Women’s Sports Connect also provides access to premier streaming and linear inventory through a partnership with Disney Advertising.
Women’s sports are projected to reach $1.28 billion in global revenue, representing a 3-year growth rate of 300%1, but the current marketplace is not set up to support scaled buys as inventory is fragmented across a variety of networks and properties – making it difficult for brands to significantly invest or understand the true impact of their marketing efforts.
This solution unites women’s sports opportunities at scale with Publicis Groupe’s Power of One capabilities, giving clients the following benefits:
- Media: Access to exclusive media opportunities and cross-channel media packages across live games and surrounding content, inclusive of audio, digital, connected TV, local video, national video and social.
- Content: Engagement with fans through unique, integrated content that enhances brand storytelling on gameday and beyond.
- Sponsorships: Development of strategic partnerships powered by industry-leading data, technology, and expertise.
- Talent/NIL/Influencer: Ability to leverage the star power of athletes, influencers, and creators across both professional and college sports.
- Events: Connections with audiences surrounding tentpole events, including consumer-facing and B2B activations.
“There is a lot of chatter in the marketplace about the disparity between men’s and women’s sports investment and how to achieve equity, but no one is really addressing the critical issue of fragmentation across women’s sports inventory,” said Talia Raviv, Global CEO, Publicis Media. “In order to shift greater investment toward women’s sports, we need a way to aggregate inventory and allow for scaled investment, and Women’s Sports Connect does this for our clients.”
“The future of sports is being rewritten, and those that don’t invest in women’s sports will find themselves left on the sidelines,” said Rita Ferro, Disney Advertising’s Global President. “Through our longtime relationship with Publicis, we are collaborating on a framework for brands to engage women sports fans authentically, at scale. With Disney’s best-in-class content, powerful audience insights and scale of distribution, we’re ensuring that women’s sports not only get the visibility they deserve, but drive real business results for advertisers."
“Women’s sports represent a massive and growing opportunity to reach 65 million2 highly-engaged and loyal fans,” said Jon Tuck, President, Publicis Sports. “We’re incredibly excited to provide our clients with rich opportunities that encompass the very best of women’s sports and help them reach this valuable and largely untapped audience.”
Women’s Sports Connect is available to all Publicis Groupe clients and spans assets across all women’s sports – including professional and collegiate.
About Publicis Media
Publicis Media harnesses the power of modern media through global agency brands Publicis Collective, Publicis Health Media, Spark Foundry, Starcom and Zenith, as well as global accelerator PMX and integrated platform-based technologies including CJ, Epsilon and Profitero. A key business solution of Publicis Groupe ([Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40]), Publicis Media’s digital-first, data-driven global solutions deliver client value and drive growth in a platform-powered world. It is present in over 100 countries with over 23,000 employees worldwide.
Contacts
Mary Markou Corporate Communications 312-881-9941 mary.markou@publicis.com