Exclusive: iHeartMedia and Deep Blue Take Women’s Sports Audio Network Nationwide

When iHeartMedia and Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment took their Women’s Sports Audio Network (WSAN) to Cannes Lions, they weren’t just seeking brand sponsors—they wanted to show receipts.

Today, iHeart and Deep Blue announced WSAN’s initial lineup of shows available across iHeartMedia’s broadcast, digital and podcast platforms. Plus, starting June 18, WSAN is launching “Women’s Sports Reports” across more than 500 iHeartMedia broadcast stations throughout the United States.

In addition, Capital One, e.l.f. Cosmetics and e.l.f. Skin will serve as WSAN’s founding brand partners.

Since issuing a report on the divide between marketers and American consumers last year, Gayle Troberman, iHeart’s CMO, and the company have attempted to address certain biases within both marketing and media. She points to a 2023 study by Wasserman’s women-focused practice, The Collective, that 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.

Additionally, if you take collegiate sports out of the equation, professional women’s sports get just 8% of sports media’s attention despite growing viewership.

“Part of the challenge has been marketer bias towards the big men’s leagues and doing what’s safe, what we’ve always done,” Troberman said. “Part of the challenge has been a lack of scaled media opportunities for brands around women’s sports.”

That’s part of the reason why iHeartMedia is activating the “Women’s Sports Reports” live at the Cannes Lions Festival from Deep Blue’s Women’s Sports House, which it’s hosting in partnership with Axios. Troberman wants to show WSAN’s ability to reach every corner of the U.S. and also its opportunity to provide both women’s sports and their sponsors with a big, predictable reach. 

Deep Blue co-founder and Giant Spoon partner Laura Correnti noted that women’s sports media traditionally has been sold on a cost per thousand (CPM) or scale-based model that punishes a lack of coverage or primetime placement. As the sports media landscape shifts, demand for women’s sports increases and advertisers take notice, ventures including WSAN provide previously nonexistent opportunities for women’s sports and potential sponsors.

“For advertisers looking for reach and efficiency, our ability to not only create first-to-market women’s sports content but also leverage the scale of iHeartMedia’s broadcast, satellite and streaming platforms to promote and distribute it, opens up the aperture for brands to invest and see return against those investment mandatories and marketing KPIs,” Correnti said.

The starting lineup

As established sports media has become painfully aware, growth in women’s sports audience and investment hasn’t always resulted in the amplification of those sports’ most thoughtful or knowledgeable voices.

Troberman noted that the WSAN programming lineup grew out of the efforts of executive producer and former A&E, Bleacher Report and Billboard Audio leader Jessie Katz and ESPN host Sarah Spain, who will also host WSAN’s Good Game w/ Sarah Spain podcast—which launches July 17.

“Women’s sports have no shortage of show-stopping moments to unpack, and that’s especially true this summer–from the ongoing NWSL and WNBA seasons to the excitement at the upcoming Paris Olympic games,” Spain said. “I’m looking forward to breaking it all down on Good Game with elite athletes and expert voices across a range of sports.”

Hosts of podcasts joining Spain’s Good Game among WSAN’s first shows are:

●      Basketball Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes, a four-time WNBA champion, three-time Olympic gold medalist, Hall-of-Famer and first woman with a signature Nike shoe.

●      Pro golfer and media personality Tisha Alyn.

●      Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) all-star Madison Packer and her wife and former pro hockey player Anya Packer.

●      Deep Blue Athlete Advisory Council member and six-time tennis doubles Grand Slam winner Rennae Stubbs and Racquet magazine co-founder Caitlin Thompson

●      WNBA insider Khristina Williams

●      League One Volleyball’s Serving Pancakes

“We wanted pros in the women’s sports arena leading our efforts,” Troberman said.  “You can expect a unique approach to coverage designed to tackle all women’s sports, not just the biggest stars at the biggest moments.”

Sponsors want nothing less.

The supporters’ section

Women’s sports fans are willing to spend on sponsors of their sport, if those brands can reach them.

For instance, Women’s sports are projected to generate more than $1 billion in revenue in 2024, according to Deloitte, Meanwhile, Sports Innovation Lab’s Fan Project found that women’s sports fans are not only acquired and retained at a 40% higher rate than average sports fans, but they also spent more with Nike, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and luxury and travel brands as a result of being so heavily engaged.

Correnti pointed out that women’s sports upfronts and newfronts—including those hosted by Sports Innovation Lab and GroupM—have dovetailed with increasing interest in women’s sports storylines to drive brand interest in the game. That created more competition for women’s sports properties but also created more of a market for analysis and storytelling like that offered by the WSAN podcasts.

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“Any time you have a finite resource or inventory with business models that include category exclusivities for example, there is competition in the media buying process,” Correnti said. “That said, we are early days in not only bringing more and new clients to the women’s sports marketplace but also challenging legacy media and sponsorship models to open up new and differentiated ways of working to ensure we aren’t leaving partners and investment behind—but rather focused on creating sustained commercial growth in the space.”

As iHeartMedia and Deep Blue look to build WSAN’s sponsor base in Cannes, they do so from a strong foundation of committed partners. Cindy Epley, Capital One’s vp of brand media strategy and investment, points out that her brand has been a strong supporter of college sports through its NCAA Corporate Champion sponsorship that made it a fixture through this year’s record-breaking women’s March Madness run.

For e.l.f. Beauty—which has sponsored women’s Indy 500 drivers, soccer players and the PWHL—boosting WSAN programming offers it an opportunity to directly address the underrepresentation both as athletes and in the content surrounding women’s sports. 

“Standing with every eye, lip and face means supporting the community all day, every day, so, we are taking over the mic to change the conversation,” said Kory Marchisotto, CMO of e.l.f. Beauty. “It’s important to normalize positivity, inclusivity and accessibility so that equity becomes our strongest muscle. That’s how the next generation gains increasing strength to dream big and achieve their highest vision.”