We’re kicking off the summer of women’s sports with in-depth research to find out who the real fans of women’s sports are and what this means for governing bodies, clubs and brand sponsorship. While headlines shout about landmark engagement, record attendances and a steep upwards trajectory, we want to investigate what this means for long-term women’s sports fandom.
Last summer was a watershed moment for women’s sports thanks to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics – the first games to achieve full gender parity among competing athletes. Yet, groundbreaking as it was, a quadrennial event is not reflective of the reality of everyday engagement in women’s sports.
It’s this reality that we’re investigating. Impressive progress has undoubtedly been made but we want to dive deeper and understand what’s really happening at an overall level, as well as on a sport-by-sport basis. From now through the autumn, we’ll be producing regular, unique insights that get to the heart of these sports and their fans.
Yonder: The voice of women’s sports
This isn’t new ground for Yonder. We initially launched our enquiry into the engagement of women and girls in sports in 2019 with the publication of our first white paper. A further white paper followed in 2022, alongside numerous thought pieces in publications such as City AM and Advertising Week.
As we look ahead to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025, the Women’s Rugby World Cup, and the Women’s Cricket World Cup, we’re introducing a new strand to our long-term study of women’s sports – we’re turning our focus towards women’s sports fans with the aim of finding out who they really are.
We conducted a preliminary survey of the UK population, which told us that 65% of UK adults follow sports with almost 3 in 5 of these fans following women’s sport in some form. We now want to go further and uncover what really drives their engagement and fandom. In gaining broader in-depth insight, we will then be able to identify opportunities for clubs, governing bodies and brands to initiate positive change.
Finding the fans who power women’s sports
Women’s sports fandom is nuanced – we know this much. Our preliminary findings show that the majority of those following women’s sports are doing so alongside men’s sports. Just 1% of the fans we polled follow women’s sports exclusively, while over 2 in 5 follow only men’s sports. Everybody else is following both at varying degrees of engagement. They’re not all one type of person following one specific sport, and they each have different reasons for engagement. Understanding the deeper context that underpins these behaviours is where we begin.
Building on extensive research expertise, we know how to reach the right people to access the insight that could close the gap between the wow-factor moments of national and international events and a more sustainable model of fandom. We’ll investigate how and why people engage with women’s sports – and not just big events or elite clubs, but engagement with local clubs, athletes they follow and brands they favour.
In uncovering the true drivers of behaviours and attitudes, we can codify what we learn to identify relevance and opportunity when it comes to the creation of strategy, value creation and long-term engagement.
A roadmap for reshaping the narrative
“There is a fantastic summer of women’s sport coming up, and the spotlight will be on a range of competitions across a variety of sports. This presents us with a fantastic opportunity to dive deep into who is engaging with women’s sport, what is attracting their attention and – importantly – what this means for long-term fandom and engagement with women’s sport outside of major events.” – Steve Coll, Director at Yonder Consulting
A more nuanced understanding of women’s sports fans will reveal huge potentiality not previously seen. The opportunities we identify will be relevant not only to governing bodies or clubs, but also to brands open to sponsorship or association with women’s sports – all have a role to play in driving progress. We know that transformative, sustainable growth cannot come without rigorous insight that builds confidence in the possibility of a new approach. Our work will deliver the roadmap needed to shape a different future for women’s sports fandom – and this is only the beginning. Keep an eye on our website and socials to get the inside scoop this summer.
Want to talk to us about all things sport? Get in touch.
