It started earlier this year when the NFL began actively promoting it's line of licensed women's apparel. Old Spice and other consumer product brands have continued the trend and now ESPN is creating an entirely new channel devoted to the woman sports enthusiast.
Sports programming for women has historically been focused on very traditional female offerings such as ice skating or gymnastics. The reality, however, is that the number of women who are enthusiasts for male sports such as football have grown to over 30% of all TV viewers and big brands are taking notice.
ESPN seems to have missed this trend in the launch of its new women's offering called espnW. Rather than acknowledge that women are flocking to male oriented program, espnW's goal is to create more programming around women's sports, under the assumption that women want to watch women's sports. Julie DiCaro of the very popular blog A League of Her Own strongly disagrees:
Meghan Flanagan from class discusses the latest espnW offering below.
I thought this topic was timely in terms of our discussion about women as sports consumers and wanted to dive into the topic of the launch of ESPN’s new network espnW, which will target a strictly woman demographic. I found some interesting dialogue on the announcement and it brings up some good questions I think that we as amateur sports marketers can try to tackle.
Although 40% of ESPN viewers are women, the only broadcasts in which females hold the majority viewership are the National Spelling Bee and cheerleading competitions. ESPN has realized the need for a brand initiative that will target the 18-49 year-old woman. Participation rates of female athletes have exploded in the recent past but the transition to sports fan has been less distinct.
ESPN’s current marketing plan consists of a grassroot program with reaches out to young girls with Girl Magazine, published 3 times a year, along with ESPN Rise Girl Edition which is available online. The idea here is to reach a young audience early, and have them transition over time into espnW a female-specific business.
The expected launch is this fall, starting with a blog and more digital content next spring.
“If activated successfully, you can imagine the potential impact, not only in effectively serving a new audience, but also in acquiring new advertisers who want to reach this audience.”
But the demographic they want to target may be a challenge. ESPN isn’t going after the female fan that already receives what she wants from the original network.
Instead they’re looking to a diverse group. “They have a lot going on in their lives – they’re in graduate school, cultivating professional careers, trying desperately to stay in shape, meeting their life partners, getting married and raising children. All of a sudden, their love for “sport” falls into many different types of areas – they might follow their college teams as an alum, watch men’s professional sports, play sports recreationally in the evenings, run 5K races and triathlons on the weekends, go to the gym every night, or coach kids.”
The announcement leads us to some questions.
How big of a risk is this launch?
Why is a brand like ESPN feeling the need to do this?
Do you see it succeeding? If not, what changes in strategy need to be made?
I must agree with Julie DiCaro. As part of this group, I believe the women who already like ESPN and follow the most popular sports don't want to be treated any differently. They actually find the mere idea offensive.
ReplyDeleteAnd the women who only follow women sports or the ones such as figure skating and gymnastics...well, can you really depend on this group to support an entire new channel? Is it big enough? Is this really the audience you are after. I doubt it.
I would think that the only logical difference between a "guys ESPN" and a "girls ESPN" could lie on advertising (since the current ads are very male oriented), but changing content seems like a bad move to me.
I think this is an good idea, and it will be interesting to see how it develops. It is pretty obvious that there is a lack of opportunities to promote female sports and having a channel dedicated to female sports would help support the growth.
ReplyDeleteI would venture to guess that most kids who play sports dream of growing up to play professionally on TV like their idols. When I look through the channel listings for sports, the only time I ever even see that there are female sports being televised, it is usually a tape-delayed game or late at night. I think a channel like this will expand the female presence in sports and show that young girls can also dream of playing on TV, and its not exlusively for men.
As women's sports gain additional advertising revenue through more exposure, this could also help lead to higher salaries in women sports. I hope that this is a successful venture for ESPN and it will allow for more doors to open for future female generations.
I am very interested to see how this plays out for ESPN. They are diving into a totally different market segment with this launch. I don't believe it will be drawing females who already follow the major professional men's sports, but it may serve a new niche of female sports fans.
ReplyDeleteThere is a market of spectators for sports like gymnastics, figure skating, among others. ESPN W will try to serve this niche with direct content. One thing to consider is whether the station can create that dedicated sport fan relationship that the standard ESPN has created with its followers.
I really believe that this will backfire for ESPN. The women that I know who are passionate about sports want the same news and stories that I do. They love the toughness of the games and the technical analysis of the sports. It seems that women who have a relationship with sports want the regular ESPN. They don't want it softened down for women or to hear more about obscure stories just for women. I also have a hard time believing that ESPN W will attract the wife or sister that has no interest in sports and is only connected through sports via a family member of friend. I feel that ESPN W must do a better job identifying the target market and figuring out who they are really going to bring in.
ReplyDeleteWhen the idea for this network first arose, I thought it best to give it sometime to settle in with the other brands that are focusing on women and sports. For instance, the NFL's women's jerseys; the commercial was practical and creative and the call to action was understood.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I compare this initiative for ESPN to the WNBA games being broadcasted on Lifetime; not too sure if it's the best idea. ESPN is taking a significant risk by tapping into the women's market. Yes, we make the decisions of what will be bought, viewed, and used within the household. But, I'm not too sure if avid women sport fans will be able to affiliate with this new brand because it seems like they are answering to something we requested as opposed to something that we want.
Using myself as an example: I grew up watching SportsCenter with my brother and riding home from work and school with my dad listening to Doc Walker and Coach John Thompson on what is now ESPN980 AM. I played basketball, started going to Orioles' games at the tender age of 5, and grew up in a family of athletes who choose sports as a conversation piece at every given moment. I'm ok with the fact that sports are dominated by male journalists, analysts, and of course, athletes and I haven't been biased to watching ESPN or any sport programming especially because of women like Pam Oliver, Chris McKendry, and Linda Kohn. I'm comfortable watching them because they are knowledgeable of the content, which is the most important aspect of their job. I also am aware of the fact that they are judged by their appearance and I wouldn't expect anything less.
With the introduction of this new network, I believe it will be 60% brand endorsements 30% appearance and 10% content. I don't agree with singling out a particular demographic that hasn't been adamant about being singled out. When supported with accurate content, our views on sports are already appreciated and accepted. My projection is that there will be too much focus on 'who' will appear on the network/'who' is endorsing as opposed to the content.