Surveys around women’s sports suggest that charisma and authenticity are every bit as big as athletic ability.
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It feels like a perennial question: what brings the fans into women’s sport? What brings the fans to the roadside of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift? And what makes them stay? If you’ve been following my work on Escape Collective to date, you know I highlight the growth of our sport and what does the business of women’s cycling mean in the broader context of women’s sport. A key part of this is the attraction piece.
In cycling as in other women’s sports, it’s the big personalities. They are the charismatic megafauna. Ecology conservation uses this term frequently, and I have alluded to it in previous work. It alludes to those money makers of the animal kingdom: the lions, the tigers, rhinos, elephants and zebras. These are the animals that strut their stuff regularly on park conservation advertising and bring in the big bucks…
Luckily for me and this metaphor, there’s a new report from creative and innovation agency Barbarian and sports media brand The Gist analysing how fans are connecting with women’s sport. And it backs up the idea that fans value personality as much or more than athletic ability.
The report found that 68% of Generation Z (currently 13-28 years old) prioritise funny and exciting social media posts equally to competitive content when deciding what they engage with. On the flip side of the age curve, Boomers (those 60-79) prioritise competitive content strongly over other types. There were creative ways to view the results, with multiple non-exclusive options for respondents to choose (“informative” was another strong performer, while “trendy” lagged).
Now, it’s not realistic to expect our female athletes to extend their charisma for funny and exciting content on the road, pitch or field. And that’s just fine. Fans are looking for it out of play, too. From the same report, 79% of women equally value highlights of the game and personal stories of the athletes. It’s a holistic picture, with fans looking for the character behind the performance.
You can see the concept of charismatic megafauna from the fans’ perspective. Brands then follow suit, recognising the power their brand will have by associating with a cultural movement. Women’s sports marketing and sponsorship platform Parity highlighted that people are 2.8 times more likely to purchase a product endorsed by a female athlete over any other influencer. The report didn’t go into what type of ‘influencer’ they refer to here, but an assumption could be made that it’s the YouTubers, TikTokers, those that are not athletes. Where fans go, the money follows.
Now, let’s draw this back to cycling and pose a question to you: Who is unabashed about showing their character in the world of cycling?
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