Fans of women's sports are more likely to buy the product of the sponsoring brand than fans of men's sport.
The Space Between is a specialist sports marketing agency founded to help businesses make the most of today’s disrupted sports landscape, to meaningfully connect with consumers.
Women’s sport is both a personal and professional priority for us and core to the values of our agency.
The Challenge
For years, our team have spearheaded campaigns and partnerships that are part of the changing landscape of women’s sport.
We partnered with The Space Between wanted to test the hypothesis that women’s sport fans have markedly different attitudes to brands and their role in society, compared to men’s sport fans, with a wider aim to inform brands about the breadth of opportunities that exist within the women’s sports space.
Our approach
We researched two groups: fans of male sports (MSFs), and fans of women’s sport (WSF). The research surveyed 500 sports fans in the UK over the age of 16.
It looked at two separate cohorts to draw out the differences in attitude based on depth of interest in women’s sports.
WSF group: 48% male
MSF group: 41% male
The outcome
The research demonstrates that companies entering into commercial partnerships in women’s sport should not make assumptions based purely on the popularity of the game. One of the key takeaways from this research is that the next generation of women’s sport partnerships must move past positioning and into purpose.
Our research was used by The Space Between to create a report which revealed a variety of interesting findings, including:
- WSFs are more likely to buy the product of the sponsoring brand than MSFs.
- 76% of WSFs notice brands when watching sport events, compared with 57% of MSFs
- Only 35% of MSFs recall brands they have seen during games, compared with a starkly contrasting 65% of WSFs.
The report has been useful in showcasing to brands the advertising opportunities within the women’s sport space. It also highlights a clear opportunity for brands who understand the audience of women’s sport, to tackle some of the key issues facing their organisation.
For the rest of the findings, you can download the full report for free here.