Publicis Media launch dedicated investment unit for women’s sport
Publicis Media have announced the launch of an investment unit dedicated to women’s sport within its Publicis Sports agency.
The new unit – Women’s Sports Connect (WSC) – will be active across media, content, sponsorships, influencing, and events at both collegiate and professional levels.
In the process, WSC is set to target the increasingly lucrative landscape of women’s sport.
Sports News Blitz writer Shameeka Voyiya reports on the story.
Publicis Media to invest in women’s sport
As the media-investment arm of French multinational advertising and public relations giant Publicis Groupe, Publicis Media’s announcement signals the entry of its parent company into the burgeoning world of women’s sport.
It was further revealed that several high-profile investments have already been made.
These include deals with NBCUniversal for an unnamed student-athlete programme and with Roku for a weekly talk series called Women’s Sports Now.
WSC has also partnered with Disney Advertising in order to access ESPN inventory.
“The Women’s Sports Connect platform will include all sports across both the professional and college levels,” said president of Publicis Sports Jon Tuck in a statement.
“The programs that we build for brand partners will be customized to reach their objectives.”
According to Tuck, the fastest-growing content categories are connected TV, digital media, influencer dynamics, and sponsorships.
READ MORE: Sponsorship of women’s sport grew 22 per cent in 2024, Deloitte says
WSC opens up women’s sport to investors
Publicis Media’s partnership with Disney provides a particularly exciting avenue for mutually beneficial investment aimed at engaging women’s sport fans, explained Disney Advertising’s global president Rita Ferro.
“The future of sports is being rewritten, and those that don’t invest in women’s sports will find themselves left on the sidelines,” she said.
“Through our longtime relationship with Publicis, we are collaborating on a framework for brands to engage women sports fans authentically at scale.”
And while there remains a disparity in industry spending between men’s and women’s sports, Publicis Media have decided to focus on improving the practicalities of investing rather than merely inflating the overall figures.
“Our efforts are less focused on disparity and more so on the opportunity for brands to grow their business by reaching this valuable audience of 65 million engaged fans,” Tuck stated.
“We want to address the marketplace fragmentation to make it easier for clients to make scaled investment. Other industry efforts talk about disparity/inequity but not the barriers we need to overcome to truly shift spend.”
With that said, in addition to offering custom media-buying opportunities through WSC, Publicis Media will fund selected original content focused on women athletes such as the Roku series.
MORE FROM SHAMEEKA VOYIYA: Five women’s sport events to look forward to in 2025
