Brands off the bench
According to Wasserman’s women-focused practice, The Collective, women’s sports accounted for 15% of all sports viewing in 2023. Even with last year’s gains and the emergence of new leagues, including the Professional Women’s Hockey League and League One Volleyball, Wasserman predicted that women’s sports would still account for just 20% of sports audiences in 2025.
But even as the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and WNBA see expanded media-rights deals, brands have been slow to buy in. According to a 2024 report from Gather, just 6% of Fortune 500 companies invest in women’s sports—a number Correnti called “abysmal”—compared to 20% for men’s athletics.
“There’s clearly a need as well as an opportunity to engage the other 94%,” Correnti said. “Who are they, what drives their business, and how can we ensure that the women’s sports ecosystem can address their business needs to create productive, collaborative outcomes?”
When those Fortune 500 companies have participated, it’s been a game changer.
For example, Morgan Stanley, which is ranked No. 41 on the Fortune 500, was heavily involved with the popular ESPN+ docuseries In the Arena: Serena Williams, thanks to its collaboration with Religion of Sports.
Plus, State Farm, which is the Fortune 500’s No. 39, used the time between its NIL partner Caitlin Clark’s last collegiate appearance in the NCAA final and her No. 1 pick by the Indiana Fever at the NBA Draft to partner with ESPN, Disney Advertising, and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions on their “Full Court Press” docuseries for ABC featuring Clark and other soon-to-be WNBA rookies.
The brands and demand are out there, but the challenge is providing women’s sports inventory at a scale they can use and tailored to the audiences they want to reach. That’s where Roku and its 90 million households of “built-in scale” enter the equation.
“It’s free and accessible for consumers. There’s the ability to promote across tune-in, data capture, and collection,” Correnti said. “[It’s] all of the bells and whistles that we know advertisers are looking for to justify not just an investment, but an increase in investment in 2025.”
Recruiting new players
Next is Now partners also want to involve brands that typically haven’t ventured into women’s sports.