I’m sticking our flag in the ground: 2024 is our year.
Everywhere you look, women’s sports are going up.
This year, Deloitte predicts women’s sports will generate $1.3 billion in revenue. That’s up 300% from just 2021.
Records are falling left and right. From 92,000 fans watching a Nebraska volleyball match to 9.9 million watching last year’s March Madness Final.
WNBA viewership is the highest it’s been in 20 years, and the NWSL just signed a $240 million TV deal.
This didn’t just happen overnight. Instead, it’s been years of slow and steady growth now leading to exponential leaps.
The unsung hero of the story? Digital media.
Because you see, while everything else has been going up, the share of TV broadcasts dedicated to women’s sports basically hasn’t budged in a decade. What’s exploded in the meantime is everything else: social media, and YouTube, and newsletters and podcasts.
I started Just Women’s Sports because it was obvious to me that there was a massive and growing fanbase whose needs weren’t being served. I could already see what was coming: the broken records in viewership, attendance, investment, and more. None of it has surprised me.
Four years ago, people needed convincing that women’s sports could be big. Now, the numbers speak for themselves.
At JWS, we’ve spent these past four years stacking up wins.
- We’ve partnered with blue chip brands like AT&T, Nike, Visa, Adobe, and more
- We’ve grown our owned audience to 3 million fans, and our monthly reach to 80 million
- We’ve sold out of merch, launched #1 podcasts, hosted live events, and held in-studio shows
- We’ve worked with the biggest athletes, teams and brands in women’s sports
So what’s coming next in 2024?
At JWS, our goal is simple: This is the year we make women’s sports year-round entertainment. 24/7, 365.
What do I mean?
In men’s sports, there’s always a new conversation to join, a new trending athlete to meet, a new debate to jump into. Men’s sports never turn off. Before, during and after big events, there’s an endless supply of content to engage both casual and die-hard fans.
That’s what we need on the women’s side. That’s what we’re building with Just Women’s Sports.
In 2024, that means new shows, expanded programming, and doubling down on our news coverage. It means meeting fans where they are, every single day, so we can convert passing fans into casual fans, and bring casuals into the core.
To help make this happen, Just Women’s Sports has welcomed Ryan Sports Ventures and several strategic individuals to our team of investors. These are industry veterans who recognize the opportunity, understand our vision, and are ready to help us win.
They join a roster that includes Blue Pool Capital, Will Ventures, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s 35 Ventures, and many more VC firms, angel investors, and athletes.
We were ahead of the curve in 2020. We both saw and helped fuel the growth in women’s sports.
This year, we’re not wasting any more time convincing people on women’s sports. Instead, we’re setting out to own this space and cement ourselves as THE digital media platform that ties it all together.
See you at the finish line. LFG.