Women’s sports are on the rise, and GroupM is looking to get marketers in the game.
Today, GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, announced it’s launching a dedicated women’s sports marketplace ahead of the upfront, with the company also committing to double its annual media investment in women’s sports.
“Right now, culturally, there’s so much excitement around women’s sports that it just bred this moment in time for us to start saying let’s formalize this a little bit,” Denise Ocasio, executive director of investment at GroupM, told ADWEEK. “Let’s start making it a true effort for all of our clients to benefit.”
With the initiative, GroupM will seek first-look and first-to-market offerings alongside advertisers such as Adidas, Ally, Coinbase, Discover, Google, Mars, Nationwide, Unilever and Universal Pictures.
“This is an open marketplace for all of our clients across GroupM so that anybody can come in, take part in it, and use this to enhance their strategy,” Martin Blich, executive director of sports and live investment at GroupM, said. “We’re looking for new innovation and first-to-market opportunities with those vendors.”
Women’s sports are projected to generate more than $1 billion in revenue in 2024, according to Deloitte, and it’s not slowing down, as buyers told ADWEEK they expect sports to be a driver once again for this year’s TV upfront.
“When we think about sports in total, women’s sports right now make up a small part, but we see the growth in this over the last few years,” Blich said. “That growth is really providing us that opportunity to enhance this, work together with our clients, collaborate on all these types of opportunities, not just media opportunities, but also content opportunities.”
Finding the right Ally
Ally chief marketing and PR officer Andrea Brimmer, who pioneered conversations with GroupM for the dedicated women’s sports marketplace, told ADWEEK that when the company made its 50/50 pledge two years ago—an initiative to advertise equally across women’s and men’s sports by 2027—systemic issues came to the forefront.
These issues included everything from the inventory complexities of undervalued leagues being packaged together to a general lack of awareness of connecting with the companies and platforms in the marketplace.