LONDON — In a brand new report from The Related Press-NORC Middle for Public Affairs Analysis, three in 10 U.S. adults observe ladies’s skilled or faculty sports activities.
The curiosity in ladies’s sports activities is booming and there’s no signal of a slowdown.
In one other report from TV promoting tracker EDO, spending on ladies’s sports activities grew by practically 2.5 occasions to $244.4 million in 2024.
Within the U.Okay., female-owned communication businesses are taking these numbers extra severely than ever.
Shania Hayles
Courtesy Ellie Hemsley
Amelia Penfold, founding father of the style and life-style PR company AP Communications, is broadening her scope by launching AP Expertise, catering to the wants of feminine athletes globally.
Already on the AP Expertise roster names embody Tatyana Heard, a rugby participant for England’s Purple Roses workforce; Sharifa AlSudairi, Saudi Arabia’s first feminine skilled skier; Shania Hayles, who performs ahead for Newcastle United and the Jamaican nationwide workforce, and Elysia Boddy, a midfielder for Newcastle United Ladies.
“What’s lacking is a strategic bridge between manufacturers and feminine athletes. Manufacturers have gotten more and more interested in ladies’s sports activities, desirous to faucet into the rising momentum, however many are nonetheless cautious about find out how to interact. What we deliver to the desk is our deep understanding of name constructing and the clear perception we’ve got into what manufacturers are in search of,” Penfold stated.
She needs to place feminine athletes in a method that provides model confidence to associate with them.
Tatyana Heard for Aligne
Courtesy of Ellie Hemsley for Aligne
“It’s about nurturing their private model, not reinventing them, however serving to them outline and refine how they present up. We information them in constructing a model that’s true to who they’re. From styling to strategic storytelling, we guarantee they’re seen not simply as athletes, however as highly effective cultural influencers,” Penfold stated.
AP Expertise’s service will deal with model growth, strategic PR, content material growth and model partnerships, which will likely be separate from the athlete’s skilled partnerships.
Penfold and her workforce will work with every particular person athlete to “refine their total model and private model, making certain it’s genuine and long-lasting. Our purpose isn’t simply to get our shoppers into the proper rooms however construct the story that will get them there.”
The expertise company needs to supply feminine athletes with the identical instruments and energy that musicians and actors yield in the case of vogue partnerships.
Sharifa AlSudairi
Courtesy
“Feminine athletes haven’t at all times had the identical infrastructure round private branding. With the proper assist, feminine athletes can develop genuine, intentional manufacturers that unlock limitless business and cultural impression. These athletes aren’t simply elite performers – they’re highly effective storytellers. Their tales of triumph, adversity, and resilience make them good ambassadors, particularly for vogue and wonder – industries that thrive on emotion and narrative,” Penfold stated.
She acknowledges that girls’s sports activities gained’t be a distinct segment within the close to future.
In keeping with Deloitte, ladies’s elite sports activities reached $1.88 billion, practically doubling from the earlier 12 months and surpassing the $1 billion mark for the primary time in 2024.
“[Women’s sports] is business and world. It’s reshaping your entire panorama, transferring solely in a single route. In rugby, the Ladies’s Rugby World Cup 2025 has grow to be the fastest-selling version ever, reflecting unprecedented demand,” Penfold stated.
Elysia Boddy
Courtesy Ellie Hemsley
2025 is proving to be an enormous 12 months for girls’s sports activities.
The UEFA Ladies’s Euro 2025 kicks off in Switzerland from July 2 to 27, then the Ladies’s Rugby World Cup 2025 follows from Aug. 22 to Sept. 27 throughout eight cities in England.
In cricket, the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup will happen from Oct. 3 to twenty within the United Arab Emirates.
“These occasions signify a shift in how ladies’s sports activities are perceived, celebrated and commercialized. With record-breaking funding, increasing media protection and surging fan engagement, this summer season marks a tipping level for girls’s sport on the worldwide stage,” stated Penfold, who’s an avid soccer-head.
