Global revenue from elite women’s sports (matchday, broadcast, commercial partnerships) will surpass $1bn in 2024 (see Key Stats), yet a gender exercise gap is curbing women’s enthusiasm. With intimidating environments (44%) and “not feeling sporty enough” (42%) cited globally as obstacles to participation (see Key Stats), the brand opportunity is large: motivational services, virtual sororities, inspirational docuseries and pioneering sponsorships are catalysing change.

With one million UK girls dropping out of sports following primary school, and the number in the US playing high-school sports trailing the number of boys (see Key Stats), the gender gap starts early. ‘See it to be it’ inspiration via AI ad campaigns, taboo-tackling e-zines and activations promoting the life-changing power of play show how to keep young girls in the sports game.

Catering to the disabled community is business (as well as morally) critical: not only is participating in sports important to 82% of British people with disabilities, but they also want to spend more on being active than non-disabled people (34% v 27%, see Key Stats). Brand-backed disability-specific digital fitness instruction hubs, empathetic storytelling and accessible local community training concepts lead the way.

With 23.9% of young North American city-dwellers citing “no facility near my house” as the reason for not exercising (ResearchGate, 2023), grassroots sports needs brand allies. Brands including Australian-British swim specialists Speedo, Vodafone and American video-game publisher EA Sports FC are providing venues, libraries and training, strengthening community bonds and building healthy legacies.

Other brands are focusing instead on tackling how sports can tackle blockers in other areas of people’s lives, including mental health concerns and/or more everyday performance-based pressure.