ESPN Thinks a TV Sports Network for Women Is a Really Good Idea
ESPN Thinks a TV Sports Network for Women Is a Really Good Idea…When you think of sports you first think of ESPN. When you think of sports for women there really isn’t a television network that sees women as a specific target for football, basketball, baseball and every other sport.
That may be changing. And I gotta tell you it may be a really good idea.
“Hey Donovan McNabb! Throw the f#&$#^%& ball, you non playing rat b@%$#&*# sonofab#@^%$!!!”
Hey mom? Calm down.
ESPN has so far created an online brand for women. espnW was quietly launched this fall and word has it that creating a television sports network for women is not far behind. With the stack of content owned by ABC, the parent company of ESPN, the ability to recycle female viewers from brands like the ABC Television Network along with Lifetime Channel and Oxygen, access to women 18 to 54 years of age is dramatic.
And don’t forget their domestic TV group which owns the likes of ‘The View’ and ‘LIVE with Regis and Kelly’ so developing a marketing strategy to reach out to this consumer is pretty simple.
ESPN brought a strong lineup of women to a retreat to pitch the idea and they all came away really liking the idea. One of them was the great Billie Jean King, the tennis pro, who told the New York Times “they’ve made the commitment…I don’t think there’s been this much planning, research and commitment before.”
Some female bloggers don’t like the idea and find it a bit leaning toward segregation and condescending. You can bet ESPN does not care a bit since there’s a significant amount of ad revenue to be had with a sports network targeted toward women. With sports brands like soccer, the WNBA, tennis, volleyball and college womens basketball, the content that can be created for such a network has significant foundation.
These chicks don’t get it and how dare they call this condescending.
Ooops!
But seriously women like all sports. In fact look at what the NFL is doing this year in support of breast cancer research. They are not doing this because they have nothing else to do but because the audience of women watching and participating in sports has increased by leaps and bound since the inception of Title IX.
Lighten up.
Rick Thomas
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