In the intense arena of sports, women have long been considered underdogs. But, the winds of change are blowing, and they’re being powered by artificial intelligence. In the scorching summer of 2023, a French advertisement went viral, using deepfake visual effects to champion women’s football and celebrate female professional athletes. The ad cleverly manipulated clips of male players to reveal they were, in fact, women’s soccer matches. The aim? To confront the unconscious bias that men’s soccer is inherently superior or more engaging than women’s. The result? A wave of support from FIFA fans worldwide.
Despite this, the media coverage for women’s sports remains disproportionately low. A study by the University of Southern California and Purdue University found that women’s sports accounted for only 5% of total TV sports coverage. Yet, the interest in women’s sports is on the rise. For instance, the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup broke viewership records with over 1 billion people tuning in globally, a 30% increase from the 2015 tournament.
AI is set to play a crucial role in breaking through biases and creating compelling, female-centric sports brands. It can provide deeper insights into female fans’ interests and values, enabling the development of richer, more resonant women’s sports brands. However, there’s still a long way to go, as only 10% of sports editors and 11.5% of sports reporters are women.
Emerging technologies like AI are also creating new-age fan experiences. Live game footage highlights, behind-the-scenes content, and authentic community reactions are all part of the mix. AI’s analytical capabilities provide pivotal insights to close the persisting gaps between men’s and women’s sports in areas like viewership, media coverage, and compensation.
As AI and technology continue to reinvent the sports social experience, it’s clear they hold the potential to elevate women athletes to the top of the match card, where they belong as equals alongside their male counterparts. It’s the next logical step in a shift that’s been happening for decades, and one that AI is ready to accelerate.
Our content is enriched by a variety of data from different sources. We appreciate the information available through public web sites, databases and reporting from organizations such as:
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