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December 2, 2022
Digital sports platform, The Athletic, has joined with Google to support and double its coverage of professional women’s sports. The program will devote more staffing and resources to coverage, with a focus on basketball and soccer through increased resources and use of Google products and reporting tools.
In the United States, there has been a steady rise in viewership numbers for women’s sports, with the WNBA’s postseason seeing a 22% increase in viewership. However, significant shortcomings in visibility for women’s sports remains. In journalism, women account for less than one in five among Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) newsroom members, which represents sports departments across some of the largest newsrooms in the US.
“Women athletes deserve to be recognized for their incredible talents and media coverage is an area that has traditionally lacked representation,” said Kate Johnson, Director of Marketing Partnerships and Sports Media at Google. Google will support The Athletic to increase its coverage of women’s sports across the publication’s new formats, helping to create a new cycle where intentional investment leads to more exposure and opportunities for athletes.
Google will provide the platform with the financial support to hire more journalists, allowing the organization to increase its offering of professional women’s basketball and soccer. The support will allow for the creation of more podcasts, newsletters and social franchises. Increased attention will also be given to drafts, training camps and the business of women’s sports.
With this new capacity of journalists, The Athletic will seek out stories around the world. The publication launched the first of a four part content series last month that takes “readers to places they have never been in the worlds of women’s basketball and women’s soccer.” The series starts with a highlight on the WNBA, exploring a phenomenon unique to the league in that many players don’t have an offseason. The Athletic will share snapshots of their lives overseas, detail the sacrifices they make, the dilemmas they face and their drive to be the best in the world. It also cover how the detainment of All-Star Brittney Griner has influenced their decisions and impacted their lives.
In January, it will kick off an eight-month project following players as they get ready for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which takes place in New Zealand and Australia in August. Journalists will embed with the clubs, travel to national camps and key qualifiers and uncover the impact of the event on their lives.
This collaboration is the latest by Google to increase representation and coverage of women’s sports. As a partner of the WNBA, Google has teamed up with the league over the past two seasons to broadcast additional games. As a FIBA (International Basketball Federation) global partner, Google has also secured additional broadcasts of Women’s World Cup games on live television in the US.
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