In a ticketing context, women who are sports fans are considerably more likely than men to attend a live event, whether they have played sport (59% for women versus 50% for men) or not (35% versus 31%).
However, there are particularly significant implications for organisations that seek to engage fans in the Asia-Pacific region, given that it is home to more women and girls than the rest of the world combined.
While the demographic profiles of sports fans continue to change across the board, the opportunity to tap into female fandom is a particularly exciting prospect, given its evolution into communities and subcultures that sprawl across digital as well as physical spaces.
Female fandom
At TheTicketingBusiness ASIA 2024 event in Hong Kong in October, an engaging panel of experts delved into the pertinent topic of establishing a strong relationship with your audience.
Speaking on the panel was Victoria Stickland, regional director, Asia, at international sports
marketing and talent management company Wasserman; Blake Tatroe, a theatre and touring consultant, and a director with Michael Cassel Group; and Robbie McRobbie MBE, executive manager, charities (sports) for the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Stickland highlighted recently published research released by Wasserman’s The Collective which revealed that nearly three out of every four women now identify as avid fans of at least one sport, representing a 10% increase over the past three years.
“Women are clearly not new sports fans – I think that goes without saying – but actually what’s really interesting is the growth of fandom among women, actually across the world, and particularly across APAC,” said Stickland.
Discretionary spend
For many years, it has been recognised that women dominate a typical household’s spending decisions. However, in the coming years, the trend will become increasingly pronounced.
“By 2028, 75% of discretionary spend will be held by women across the world, so that’s why we wanted to tap into this,” Stickland added. “What is the commercial opportunity for brands and how are they connecting with women through sports?
“We’ve seen a 10% increase in women’s fandom across the world… 78% of women are engaged with sport and would consider themselves avid fans of sport, importantly. That’s huge when just stop and think about that…
“So, you can see that across APAC, that’s a huge opportunity if you want to speak to women and you want to do so through the power of sport.”
Branded experiences
The study also found that women sports fans were more likely to notice branded experiences, pop-up shops or activations than their male counterparts, further presenting an opportunity for sports organisations.
Importantly, many female sports fans are at the beginning of their journey, with Some 14% of those surveyed becoming sports fans in the last year.
“There is genuinely a huge opportunity to connect with these female fans across APAC. And yet, there’s still probably quite a long way to go in terms of making these sports more accessible and creating more content,” said Stickland during her presentation. “That’s a brilliant opportunity, I think, for everyone.”
Role models
McRobbie developed the discussion by speaking about his experience in his former role as chief executive of Hong Kong China Rugby.
“In Hong Kong at the moment, two of the three big athlete rock stars are female: Vivien Kong (Hong Kong fencer) and Siobhan Haughey (Hong Kong swimmer). They are heroes here and amazing role models,” he said.
“Then, when I look at the events that we’ve been supporting, they’ve either been Lacrosse Women’s U20s, baseball fives – mixed – and rugby sevens. To be honest, we saw a real positive uplift when we went from male only to male and female teams,” said McRobbie.
“I think it’s opened up really exciting opportunities and has created great role models and great inspiration.”
Immersive experiences
Tatroe broadened the discussion by noting the growing impact of immersive experiences, different spaces and non-traditional content to help drive audience engagement.
“One of the things that’s intriguing to me right now is the definition of experiences and where they take place,” said Tatroe, who is also the international director for Michael Cassel Group.
“The Western world has really adopted immersive experiences at a rate that is far outweighing what we’re seeing in Asia. As a Westerner that has lived in Asia for 15-plus years, that’s an area that I think is going to explode in the next 12-18 months. I think that’s an area where brands are going to start to see a lot more engagement.”