For advertisers capitalizing on the recent explosion of popularity of women’s sports, the Finals paid off, according to new data from EDO, a TV ad-measurement platform that tracks advertising.
The data tracked how likely viewers were to engage online with brands they saw advertised during WNBA games by measuring the increase in search and website visits in the minutes immediately after an ad runs.
Compared to last year’s WNBA Finals, fans were 30% more likely to engage online with a brand they saw advertised than they were in 2022, EDO data show.
Ads in the 2023 NBA Finals, meanwhile, were 29% less effective than last year, EDO tracked. The NBA still outperformed the WNBA in ad effectiveness overall, but the margins decreased.
“Increased support and recognition for women athletes, as well as greater engagement with women’s sports — and live sports more generally — amid a slow fall TV premiere season, proved to be a powerful combination this year,” EDO’s senior vice president Laura Grover told Insider.
Michelob Ultra ran the most effective ad series during the Finals, tracking 211% above the average Finals engagement rate over its six ads, per EDO. One of its commercials featured NBA player Jimmy Butler and WNBA player Nneka Ogwumike.
Effective ads all season long
Outside of the finals, the WNBA playoffs saw growth for advertisers as well. Compared to last year, fans were 23% more likely to engage with brands they saw advertised than they were in 2022, which was already up a whopping 64% from 2021, per EDO. Also in 2022, ad effectiveness in the Finals jumped 10% from the season before, the data shows.
Both the WNBA Finals and playoffs metrics sit well above the average primetime broadcast and cable effectiveness for advertisers, EDO shows.
The 2023 WNBA regular season saw growth as well, with ad engagement up 7% from 2022, per the EDO data, a figure up 42% from the 2021 season.
Advertisers are seeing the business opportunity in women’s sports
Given the rapidly growing fanbases for women’s sports, more advertisers are looking for authentic partnerships with female athletes. Marketing agencies and firms are popping up that are dedicated to scoring brand deals for these athletes.
Footwear company Oofos has had tremendous engagement from women’s sports fans since tapping Michelle Cardinal’s Rain the Growth Agency and partnering with women’s sports legends such as Dawn Staley, said Darren Brown, the brand’s head of marketing, at Advertising Week New York on October 17.
Oofos has seen 177% year-over-year growth in website traffic, a 191% uptick in sales, and a 223% year-over-year increase in new customers, according to a case study Cardinal provided to Insider.
Ally Financial is another example of a successful brand investment in women’s sports. Ally bet big on women’s sports, pledging in 2022 to evenly split its media marketing dollars between men’s and women’s sports. Since then, company-commissioned surveys have shown preference, awareness, and likeability of the brand is up.
“If that’s not outlining how good this has been for business, I don’t know what marketing initiative is,” Ally’s head of sports and entertainment marketing Stephanie Marciano told Insider in July.
Brands that ran more commercials saw higher engagement rates
EDO also provided insight into ad effectiveness for brands thad had 20 or more airings over the course of the season. The company found the brands that aired more ads generally had higher engagement rates.
Gatorade aired a leading 215 ads during the season and saw 70% more engagement than the average, according to the data.
Some of the most effective ads targeted male viewers. Bosley Hair Restoration and Old Spice were 341% and 134% more effective than 2023 WNBA average, respectively, EDO data show.
Here are the top 10 brands ranked by ad effectiveness in the 2023 WNBA season, as compared to the average, according to EDO:
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