The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of the biggest global sporting events, nearing 2M in attendance outshining previous records. It brings together the best women's national teams from around the world to compete for the ultimate prize in women's soccer. The tournament has grown in popularity and viewership over the years, thanks in part to the efforts of brands sponsoring women's sports. Our latest report analyzing the data from the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup highlights just how impactful these brands can be. Here’s a peek at the findings of the report and why brands sponsoring women's sports should be excited about the opportunities presented.
Increased Reach
The FIFA Women's World Cup is a global event, and millions of people tune in to watch the games. The report found that the World Cup Final saw a peak audience of 12M viewers on BBC One – even further impressive considering the men’s Wimbledon Final had a peak audience of 11.3M on the same channel. Instagram was the main source of value on social media, as it hosted 36% of the content; TikTok content reaped the benefits of high engagements (160K+ engagements per post), whereas Facebook posts garnered over 3.2M impressions on average.
This exposure offers brands sponsoring women's sports an opportunity to increase their reach and engage with a wider audience. By sponsoring the tournament, brands can tap into this global audience and showcase their commitment to supporting women's sports.
Top sponsoring categories
Sportswear brands accounted for $95M in sponsor media value. Adidas and Nike accounted for 94% of the value earned by brands in the sportswear industry. Match Kit partnerships were responsible for 70% of the sponsor media value earned by sportswear brands, as this asset generated over $66M in value.
Field Level Assets
Brands received 88% of their total on-screen time through activations on Field Level LEDs. Field Level LEDs vastly benefited from their strategic location, racking up over 400K total exposures and 985 hours of brand coverage. While no other asset can be compared to Field Level LEDs from a media value perspective, Broadcast Graphics provided the highest-quality exposures with a 47% average MVP score* for a total of $5.7M in sponsor media value. Press Setup ranked third with $5.5M in value, while no other asset tracked generated over $50K in media value. The total broadcast sponsor media value generated through field-level LEDs added up to $276M.
Brands can maximize their investment by optimizing for broadcast. One way brands could take this over was with Full Takeover LED Animations. Full takeovers are the best set-up for brands when leveraging LED animations. Due to their size, these takeovers mitigate the lower visibility which at times can be caused by the transition from one activation to the following.
The FIFA Women's World Cup report highlights the significant impact that brands sponsoring women's sports can have. By sponsoring the tournament, brands can increase their reach, engage with a wider audience, build positive brand associations, increase consumer engagement, and boost their sales. These findings should be exciting for CMOs looking to support women's sports and showcase their commitment to diversity, inclusion, and gender equality. The FIFA Women's World Cup is a fantastic opportunity for brands to make a positive impact and support the growth of women's sports on a global scale.