Publicis Media Strikes Pacts to Buy Ad Positions in Women’s Sports for Clients

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Publicis Media has a different game to play when it comes to women’s sports.

On Tuesday, Publicis Groupe’s media-investment division presented Women’s Sports Connect, a novel service provided by their Publicis Sports agency. This service secures ad placements and funds original content creation to enable advertisers to be part of sports and programming focused on female athletes. The introduction of this offering comes as there is growing interest in leagues like the WNBA and Unrivaled, along with women’s college basketball.

Talia Raviv, CEO of Publicis Media, stated that while many discussions are happening regarding the inequality in funding between men’s and women’s sports, there is a key issue being overlooked: the fragmentation across women’s sports offerings. To move more investment towards women’s sports, she believes it’s essential to find a way to pool resources together for large-scale investments, which is exactly what Women’s Sports Connect provides for our clients.

Various well-known media purchasing agencies, such as WPP’s GroupM, have aimed to streamline the process of acquiring ad space in women’s sports. These games are often broadcast across numerous platforms, receiving less airtime compared to men’s leagues on most sports-focused channels. This can pose challenges for advertisers seeking sufficient reach to justify their investment.

It’s predicted that the worldwide income generated from women’s sports will amount to approximately $1.28 billion, as indicated by research conducted by Deloitte.

Beyond securing commercial stock, Publicis aims to provide strategic and effectiveness-measuring advice, as well as grant exclusive media chances to their clients.

Among the ventures where Publicis Media has committed resources are:
1. “Women’s Sports Now” on Roku, a weekly discussion series and an upcoming student-athlete encouragement program being created by NBCUniversal Local’s Sports Partnership Development team.
2. A collaboration with The GIST, a women-led sports news platform, aimed at offering college athletes educational experiences and curricula linked to name, image, and likeness opportunities and professional growth.

Women’s Sports Connect provides access to top-tier streaming and broadcast content through a partnership with Disney Advertising. In a statement, Rita Ferro, global president of Disney Advertising, expressed that the future of sports is being redefined, and those who fail to invest in women’s sports risk missing out on opportunities. “Through our long-standing collaboration with Publicis, we are working on a strategy for brands to genuinely connect with female sports fans en masse,” Ferro continued. “By leveraging Disney’s exceptional content, deep audience insights, and extensive distribution network, we aim to ensure that women’s sports not only receive the recognition they deserve but also generate tangible business outcomes for advertisers.

As a movie buff who appreciates diverse perspectives, I’m thrilled to share that Women’s Sports Connect is now accessible to everyone within the Publicis Groupe family! This platform offers a wealth of resources spanning from professional to collegiate sports, providing us an exceptional chance to engage with women’s sports and tap into an audience that’s both valuable and largely overlooked. In his statement, Jon Tuck, President of Publicis Sports, expressed our collective excitement about this opportunity.

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2025-02-11 16:16