ESPN’s New Pitch to Advertisers: We reach Women

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Sports Advertisements
Traditionally, sports television has been known to be the best form of marketing targeting male viewers. Women have not been known to be famous sports viewers; advertisers, therefore, have consistently ignored them in sports advertisements. They have been known to be consumers of soap operas and other related programs (“ESPN’S New Pitch to Advertisers: ‘We Reach Women’”). The advertisers have thus targeted women during prime times. However, larger advertisers have changed and are diversifying on the advertisement strategies with the aim of reaching the untapped market. Women have changed tact’s and today; it is not a guarantee that prime time’s programs will capture women. Audience outside the home has significantly increased with women forming a good number of this segment. According to ESPN, advertisers have changed the focus of marketing from the sport to the consumer of the product. They thus concentrate on every possible consumer including men, women, and children
Attention is, however, turning to women after advertisers realized that women too have changed and are good fans of sports just like men (“ESPN’S New Pitch to Advertisers: ‘We Reach Women’”). With the changing world and calls for gender equality, women are trying to do what men do. It is, therefore, a standard practice to find women watching sports hence motivating the advertisers to focus on them. The new data acquired by ESPN also gives the firm hopes that women have embraced sports.

The firms engaging in live sports incorporate women to raise their rating. In the world, an organization that includes men and women is seen as more satisfying and rated better in comparison to those that are gender biased.
ESPN is convincing advertisers to target the family as a whole in their ads. The family means an advertisement that will touch on the mother, father, and the children. The company is ensuring that her customer base is consistent for several years. The consistency is promising the advertisers a firm customer base throughout. The firm is also broadening its audience with the aim of reaching more people (“ESPN’S New Pitch to Advertisers: ‘We Reach Women’”). An enlargement of ESPN audience expands the advertisers’ field capturing more customers.
One crucial strategy of appealing to the females the advertisers are using is producing gender sensitive adverts. The adverts produced are cutting across all genders and not leaning towards the males (“ESPN’S New Pitch to Advertisers: ‘We Reach Women’”). Traditionally, the sports ads were male-oriented however; more female themed adverts are designed making women feel they are part of the target. ESPN has also introduced an online product for women called espnW. EspnW is a social site where women can meet and share information on sports. Being a women thing, many can identify with it and after that the company. In future, this brand may end up being women’s sports channel further appealing to the women.
The principal role Nielsen plays is giving data concerning male and female audience. The data is necessary for helping sports channel, and advertisers make sound ads decisions. Data from Nielsen shows that out of the home audience concerning females changed over a three-year period (“ESPN’S New Pitch to Advertisers: ‘We Reach Women’”). The same data showed that more women compared to men are likely to be out of home viewers. The issue is crucial since it will direct the advertisers on where to direct the energies. In this case, an advertisement will focus on the direction of the home viewers with the aim of capturing their attention.
Women contribute a significant portion of the ads. Any sober advertiser must not underrate the role women play in the purchase of products. The advertisers should focus on women in all the areas they occupy to ensure the message reaches them.
Work cited
Bruell, Alexandra. “ESPN’S New Pitch to Advertisers: ‘We Reach Women.’” WSJ, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/espns-new-pitch-to-advertisers-we-reach-women-1515409200. Accessed 10 Apr 2018