From Friday, Valentine’s Day, through Sunday, Feb. 16, ESPN platforms will showcase a marquee lineup of women’s sports:
- The debut of the Women’s Lacrosse League
- The first-ever LOVB Classic
- The Shriners Children’s Clearwater Invitational
- A tripleheader of ranked women’s college basketball games tipped off by this season’s first Women’s Basketball College GameDay
- No. 1 Oklahoma visits No. 2 LSU in women’s gymnastics.
Front Row asked Susie Piotrkowski, Vice President, Women’s Sports Programming & espnW and a former University of New Hampshire lacrosse star, to learn more about strategy. In addition, several ESPN commentators, including Dana Boyle, Courtney Lyle, Michele Smith, Salima Rockwell, Shelby Coppedge and Anne Marie Anderson share what they love about women’s sports in the video above.
What is ESPN’s long-term strategy for growing women’s sports viewership? How do you measure success beyond ratings?
Piotrkowski: When measuring success across our women’s sports portfolio, we look at the full mosaic, across the industry and across the enterprise. We have seen unprecedented marketplace demand and revenue growth tied to our broader women’s sports portfolio, along with unprecedented social engagement across multiple platforms. And, of course, 2024 saw us set countless new viewership records across our portfolio. We’re about serving the sports fan anytime, anywhere – sustaining that fandom by mainstreaming women’s sports intentionally allows us to further maintain our leadership position in the space.
(Allen Kee/Scott Clarke/Joshua R. Gatele/ESPN Images; Lacrosse photo: Women’s Lacrosse League; Volleyball photo: LOVB)/Illustration: Oliva Coryell/ESPN]
How does ESPN approach programming decisions for women’s sports? What factors influence how and when events are scheduled across platforms?
Piotrkowski: Making women’s sports consistently accessible is a core priority, inclusive of premium windows across our linear networks as well as cross-platform.We have more than 33,000 hours of women’s sports programming and just under 60% of all women’s sports consumption comes by way of ESPN. The launch of ESPN on Disney+ has provided another opportunity to make our women’s sports programming accessible at scale. Growth is good, scale is better!
What is ESPN doing to work toward more equitable coverage of women’s sports?
Piotrkowski Women’s sports are sports, period. Strategically, we are further mainstreaming women’s sports to ensure we are serving both the diehard and emerging fan of women’s sports 365 days a year. We have been in the women’s sports game for decades, as evidenced by our NCAA and WNBA deals among others – we will continue to maximize those rights through live programming, complementary content and our unmatched talent roster to ensure we maintain our leadership position and continue to set the standard in serving everyone who watches women’s sports.
Spencer T. Jackson produced the commentators video above; Katie Callahan, Amanda Brooks and Bea Panitz also contributed to this post
In the video below, Sports Business Journal’s Mollie Cahillane interviewed Piotrkowski regarding ESPN’s approach to women’s sports
