Time Inc. CEO Jess SIbley talks to Axios' Sara Fischer at the Axios and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment Women's Sports House at the Cannes Lions Festival for Creativity in Cannes, France on June 17. Photo: Sean T. Smith/Axios
Sports media executives are pushing to invest more in women's sports coverage, as a way to better serve and grow their audiences.
X: The platform is in conversations with sports leagues about producing more docuseries on the platform, CEO Linda Yaccarino told Axios at the Women's Sports House. Gotham FC and U.S. Women's National Team forward Midge Purce, on Axios' stage, teased a new reality docuseries about women's soccer that will live on X. (Full interview.)
Yahoo: The internet giant has tapped a slew of female Olympians, such as Allyson Felix, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Shawn Johnson East, Missy Franklin and Katie Hoff, to be correspondents for the 2024 games. It plans to increase investments in women's sports fantasy products. (Full interview,)
Time Inc.: From 2014 to 2024, 17 Time magazine covers featured a female athlete compared to 5 covers in the decade prior, per Time Inc. CEO Jess Sibley. Time Studios produced a documentary on the U.S. Women's World Cup Team for Netflix that was nominated for a Sports Emmy. (Full interview.)
Sports Illustrated: Sports Illustrated is planning to invest significantly in bolstering its coverage of women's sports, editor-in-chief Steve Cannella told Axios on stage in Cannes. The iconic magazine wants to dive deeper into under-covered women's sports, such as hockey and softball. (Full interview.)
The Athletic: The Athletic has roughly doubled its coverage of women's sports from 2022 to 2023, per New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien. The publication had 4 full-time journalists covering women's sports in 2022, compared to 10 today. (Full interview.)
Disney/ESPN: "We've doubled down on the investment we're making in college sports," said Disney/ESPN Advertising President Rita Ferro. In January ESPN inked a new, eight-year agreement to air NCAA championships, including domestic rights for 21 women's championship games and 19 men's games. (Full interview).
What to watch: The WNBA expects to work with Disney in its new media rights agreement and is seeking more brand deals, the league's SVP and chief growth officer Colie Edison told Axios. (Full interview).
