Disney’s Serena Williams Docuseries Serves Morgan Stanley a Women’s Sports Smash

When a brand like Morgan Stanley wants to help tell one of the most compelling stories in sports, it doesn’t need a man in the arena: It needs the greatest of all time.

Serena Williams retired from tennis in 2022 with 23 women’s Grand Slam singles titles, 18 Grand Slam doubles titles, four Olympic gold medals and nearly $95 million in winnings. This summer, Morgan Stanley signed on as the presenting sponsor of an eight-part ESPN+ documentary in which she reflects on her athletic career.

“Last year, we announced on our upfront stage that we began production on a groundbreaking project with world-class athlete Serena Williams,” said Mike Denby, svp of sales for Disney Advertising. “Disney continues to amplify women’s sports through our programming, providing unique opportunities for advertisers to intentionally commit to the growth of women’s voices in sports, and we are proud to collaborate with brands who are just as invested in this mission.” 

The docuseries, In the Arena: Serena Williams, debuted at the Tribeca Festival in June—which was also co-sponsored by Morgan Stanley—and serves as an extension of director Gotham Chopra’s series that kicked off with the Emmy-winning Man in the Arena: Tom Brady in 2021 and 2022. Launched at the festival with a screening and conversation between Williams and writer/comedian Amber Ruffin, In the Arena drops its first episode on ESPN+ today, with new installments debuting each Wednesday through Aug. 28.

“Serena is the epitome of someone with grit and determination and vision to see what no one else can see,” said Alice Milligan, CMO of Morgan Stanley. “Partnering with her made total sense: She herself has [the] Serena Ventures [venture capital fund] and does a lot around helping the next generation move forward—whether it’s in the sport or outside of the sport—and Morgan Stanley does a lot of that as part of our core values.”

Investment at fault

Morgan Stanley’s involvement comes at a time when brand interest in women’s sports hasn’t quite matched fan intensity. The company pointed to recent research from Deloitte forecasting women’s sports revenue to exceed $1 billion in the United States for the first time this year—despite receiving just 1% to 2% of total sports investment.

Meanwhile, a 2023 study by Wasserman’s women-focused practice, The Collective, found just a 15% share of sports media coverage dedicated to women’s sports—despite women’s events accounting for 50% of all sports competitions in the U.S. 

Take collegiate sports out of the equation, and professional women’s sports get just 8% of sports media’s attention.

Few are more aware of the disparity than Disney Advertising, which just saw NCAA women’s March Madness coverage on ESPN platforms more than double its viewing audience from 2022 and end with nearly 19 million viewers for its championship game. Its WNBA Draft coverage drew an audience four times larger than the previous record, while regular-season matchups saw their highest viewership in more than two decades.

With NCAA women’s softball also seeing record viewership on ESPN platforms in 2024, Disney Advertising is in a unique position to help brands looking to invest in women’s sports.

“Over the last few years, we’ve put a lot of time and effort into looking at women’s sports, and it’s been great to see over the last year the excitement and attention around it,” Milligan said, also pointing out the disparity between women’s sports audience growth and brand investment. “We wanted to change that narrative a bit, and the way you do it is by putting your money where your mouth is.”

Holding court

Working with Disney Advertising, Morgan Stanley has its brand included among in-show elements on ESPN+ streaming and linear properties, voiceover promotions within ESPN studio shows and mentions through various ESPN cross-channel promotions. The company sees it not only as an opportunity to invest further in women’s sports, but to build on its global partnership with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) launched at the beginning of 2023. 

With help from brand ambassador and 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, Morgan Stanley has hosted Come Play tennis clinics in Charleston, New York, San Diego, London and Australia to help 3,000 kids in underrepresented communities access the sport. Morgan Stanley also teamed with the WTA on the What Moves You program, which helps tennis players manage their finances during and after their careers.

The company builds on that last point with its In the Arena sponsorship, consulting its equity research team about ties between the fashion industry and sports, and what athletes can learn from Williams’ experience with her S by Serena clothing line and WYN Beauty products. It had the equity team delve into potential investments for athletes to consider while asking its banking team to help retiring athletes address business transitions, including acquiring capital.

Morgan Stanley also offers athletes access to its Inclusive Ventures Lab, which brings in company founders from various industries to serve as mentors and walk them through steps, including initial investments and public stock offerings. While Morgan Stanley’s sponsorship of In the Arena allows it to help tell Williams’ story, the partnership with Disney Advertising forced it to ask serious questions about just how it was helping everyone involved.

“How do you bring a set of assets together that provide value to your clients and prospective clients that they couldn’t get on their own?” Milligan said. “Then how do we take this to the next level and bring value to both the person we’re collaborating with—like Serena, like ESPN—as well as the client and prospect that we may be bringing into the experience?”