Axios Event: Media execs are betting big on women's sports

CANNES, France – Media executives are focusing investments into the fast-growing market of women's sports, they said at an Axios event at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Why it matters: Women's sports is booming in viewership, engagement and fandoms as more women's teams are launching and business executives are noticing the growth opportunities.

Axios' Sara Fischer spoke with Roku Media president Charlie Collier, NBCUniversal global advertising and partnerships chairman Mark Marshall, NBC Sports host and play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico and Tubi CEO Anjali Sud at the June 18 event, sponsored by Nielsen.

What they're saying: Roku Media and Tubi see opportunities in investing and promoting women's sports.

• "We have all sorts of women's sports and we have a women's sport zone and we've invested in women's volleyball and we've invested in women's soccer," Collier said.
• "Platforms like iON that had the [WNBA player] Caitlin Clark games as part of their package before Caitlin Clark blew up, we absolutely made sure that we got our viewers to those games on iON. It wasn't our rights, but it was absolutely our right to elevate that pop-cultural moment," he added.
• "For women in sports in particular, there's just a need here. There's a vacuum that I think we have an opportunity to fill," Sud said.

Sud also mentioned that Gen Z audiences care about the stories behind the athletes as well as the game, so Tubi is developing more "shoulder content" to appeal to younger audiences.

• "We just announced … a [tennis player] Naomi Osaka doc that's going to be coming out on Tubi in August," Sud said. "It's going to be talking about her journey coming back into the game after having a baby."
• "Beyond the diehard sports fans, there are people who are in it for the culture. And we need to serve them with compelling stories and content and build that momentum."

Separately, NBC Sports discussed its major deal with the NBA, which will broadcast on NBC from Sunday to Tuesday nights, blending linear and streaming to maximize reach.

• "Sunday, we'll have a pregame and then the game," Tirico said. "Monday, there'll be games on Peacock. …Tuesday, on NBC. … We'll have an NBA game on the East Coast at 8 Eastern time and then we'll have a game for our Mountain and Pacific time zone affiliates at 8 o'clock Pacific time."
• "What I'm excited about is the amount of NBA that will be on broadcast TV in prime time. So you'll have a game every week on Tuesday night, which I think will be a boost for the league and really get the package off to a great start."

• Marshall added: "Part of what I really was hoping for and it worked out was to be on the front half of the week and so we can promote the rest of the entertainment programming that will happen on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Whereas, you know, 'Sunday Night Football,' that's what we've done for years. Now we'll actually go from 'Sunday Night Football' to 'Sunday Night Basketball' on Peacock every Monday night and Tuesday on NBC prime time."
• "So all of a sudden we have this huge promotional platform that's going to bring a younger, more multicultural audience to NBC that's probably been there, that's not there every week as we sit here today."

Content from the sponsored segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao emphasized the major growth of women's sports.

• "There is a real uplift for all things women and sports, and this is a phenomenon that has shifted … in the last two to three years," he said. "All things women in sports, WNBA, like literally it's just beginning. It's going to scale quite dramatically."