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New report 'brings the receipts' on ROI of Women's Sports ads. WPP Media's Women's Sports Playbook shows surging ad spend, higher engagement, and premium audiences. 4 hours ago Women's sports investment is growing, and it's scoring big for advertisers. In a new "Women's Sports Playbook" report from WPP Media, in partnership with EDO, Adverteyes, and VideoAmp, which aims to be a guide for brands to invest in women's sports, the companies reveal that recent ad growth in women's sports is driving results. That includes finding a 79% year-over-year increase in ad impressions for women's sports and 20% higher engagement with ads than on non-sports broadcast and cable. Showcasing the impact, while analyzing ads from major brands, the report found that Ally Financial's ads delivered 85% higher engagement when aired during women's sports compared to broadcast and cable average outside of live sports. "What it illuminates is what we have been saying for the last five years that we've been heavily investing in women's sports, which is that this is good business," Andrea Brimmer, CMO, Ally Financial, told ADWEEK. "It makes exceptional sense as a marketer, and it drives really accretive business results. And I think that a report like this brings the receipts." And those receipts are leaving an impression. According to the report, investment in women's sports is estimated to be up nearly 70% year over year, with the total spend reaching about $127 million. Meanwhile, ad airings have increased nearly 30% to nearly 30,000. Additionally, audiences watching women's sports are especially attractive to advertisers, as fans overindex for households with incomes of $200,000 or more. Meanwhile, reaching those audiences authentically with athlete-led, human, and culturally aligned creative drives higher emotional engagement, attention, and brand recall than generic creative, the report states. Martin Blich, executive director and U.S. head of sports partnerships and investment, WPP Media, said the report comes on the back of WPP's previous pledge to double client investment within the women's sports marketplace, a pledge it made and quickly surpassed in 2024. "This is about taking what was, three plus years ago, a cultural movement, and now, lending credit to the fact that it is one of the highest growing performance environments within media," Blich said. Getting in the game. Interestingly, as the women's sports marketplace grows, it also brings out the competitive side of brands. "On one hand, I'm really happy about it," Brimmer said of the increase in brand interest. "On the other hand, it's going to be difficult for those of us, like Ally, State Farm, AT&T, and Google, who were the early investors, because we're going to get priced out of things that we've historically held onto." Of course, Ally isn't going anywhere and continues to make strides in newer women's sports leagues, recently teaming with Scripps Sports to bring the Professional Women's Hockey League's first-ever nationally televised game in the U.S. on March 28. The company is also advancing its 50/50 pledge, announced in 2022, which commits to equal media investment in men's and women's sports within five years. Brimmer said the company is now on track to complete that goal ahead of schedule. "We made [the 50/50 pledge] four years ago. We gave ourselves a five-year window, and we are on track to meet the pledge this year," Brimmer said. "I think by all accounts, we'll hit it a year early." Brimmer also noted that, since the 50/50 pledge, the company's brand value has increased 40%. WPP Media's report notably comes out as companies are putting together their plans for this year's upfront season, and Blich told ADWEEK he hopes the "Women's Sports Playbook" helps the market continue to sustain itself and grow. "This is a big moment for us," Blich said. "This is a moment where we're putting that stake in the ground to the marketplace, to talk about how we continue to lead the conversation within and around women's sports, which is why we're creating this playbook." Bill Bradley is Adweek's deputy TV, Media and Sports editor. Recommended videos

VideoAmp appoints Tony Fagan as CEO to lead next phase of ai-driven growth. NEW YORK - (BUSINESS WIRE) - VideoAmp, the tech-first measurement company, today announced a CEO transition, with Peter Liguori stepping down as Chief Executive Officer effective January 5, 2026, and Tony Fagan, currently President, assuming the role of CEO beginning January 6, 2026. Liguori remains a member of the board and continues to support the company's long-term vision. The transition reflects VideoAmp's increased focus on innovation, advanced audiences, and AI-driven outcomes measurement. Liguori has been a member of the Board for more than five years and, prior to his role as CEO, served as VideoAmp's Executive Chairman. During his tenure, he helped build meaningful momentum across the business, deepening relationships across the publisher and agency ecosystem, strengthening partner confidence, and reinforcing VideoAmp's position as a trusted leader in advanced audiences and outcomes measurement during a period of significant industry change. "As VideoAmp turns the page to its next, exciting AI chapter, I can think of no one more qualified to lead the company into the agentic future than Tony Fagan," said Liguori. "I look forward to supporting him on this exciting journey." Fagan has served as President during a period of significant platform evolution, overseeing advancement of VideoAmp's technology stack and outcomes-driven architecture. His elevation underscores the company's belief that the next phase of growth will be led by deep technical leadership and a strong understanding of customer outcomes. "VideoAmp delivers a best-in-class tech stack for advanced audiences and outcomes measurement," said Fagan. "We are investing heavily in agentic optimization to drive campaign performance against those outcomes." Under Fagan's leadership, VideoAmp will accelerate investment in agentic AI and intelligent optimization technologies designed to help advertisers, publishers, and agencies drive measurable results in an increasingly complex media landscape. About VideoAmp VideoAmp is a media measurement company transforming advertising. By leveraging the power of currency-grade big data, VideoAmp's solutions provide clients with access to advanced audiences and the ability to plan, optimize and measure media investments across platforms to drive successful outcomes. These solutions enable media sellers to increase the value of their inventory and advertisers to benefit from increased return on investment. VideoAmp has seen incredible adoption for its measurement and currency solutions with 880% YoY growth, 98% coverage of the TV publisher ecosystem, 11 agency groups and more than 1,000+ advertisers. VideoAmp is headquartered in Los Angeles and New York with offices across the United States. To learn more, visit www.videoamp.com.