Breaking down the viewing habits of women’s sports fans

Women’s sports like soccer, tennis, and basketball have built new audiences in recent years, opening new avenues for brands to connect with sports fans. But misunderstand the growing fanbases for women’s sports, and marketers may just strike out.

Rain the Growth Agency, a full-service agency with a practice dedicated to women’s sports, sought to break down the kinds of content fans of women’s sports are watching, where they’re watching, and why they’re engaged, all of which may help “further marketers’ understanding of the women’s sports fan profile and what fandom really means in this space,” the agency wrote in a recent report based on a survey of almost 1,000 US adults ages 18–74 who said they engage with sports content.

The fans: Women’s sports fans tend to be “affluent and educated,” Rain found.

• Majorities have at least a college or associate degree, live in urban or suburban areas, are married, and have two or more people in their households.
• Forty-eight percent said they’re Democrats, and 37% have household incomes of at least $100,000.

The sports: FIFA soccer was the most watched women’s sport in the 12 months leading up to the survey, though the report points out that data could be skewed because the survey was fielded during the Women’s World Cup, from Aug. 2–4. Tennis, college basketball, the WNBA, gymnastics, volleyball, and the NWSL follow, in descending order of popularity.

• While the WNBA has fans across generations, according to Rain, it’s the favorite sport to watch among Gen Z fans.
• Millennials and baby boomers most prefer FIFA women’s soccer, Rain found, while the largest share of Gen Xers said they’d watched women’s tennis in the year leading up to the survey.
• “While not in the top four, LPGA golf is a notably popular sport for boomers,” the report noted.

The platforms: Linear TV is the leading outlet for viewing women’s sports, but that’s closely followed by streaming services, and again differs based on generation, the survey found.

• A majority of Gen Z respondents reported watching women’s sports primarily on social media platforms.
• Nearly equal shares of millennials said they watch on social and on streaming.
• Gen X and boomers tend to watch mostly on linear TV.

The content: Women’s sports fans like to watch the action of games, but they also care about the lives of athletes off the court, field, etc. Almost two-thirds (63%) of fans said they’re “interested in the lifestyles of female athletes I follow,” according to the report.

Across generations, majorities of fans use social media to follow athletes and teams, Rain found. News stories and sports-specific sites are also fairly popular, especially among older generations.

The brands: This fanbase isn’t necessarily looking for brand and product recommendations from women athletes as much as they like to see sports and personal content, per the report, but there are still opportunities for brands to make connections: 64% of Gen Z, 74% of millennials, and 55% of Gen X said they’re more likely to buy from brands that promote women’s sports.