Women Olympians Are Always Worth Investing In: Not Just Every Four Years
Every time the Olympics come around - whether it be Winter or Summer - we are reminded of something that those of us in women’s sports already inherently understand: when women athletes are platformed, people watch. The Olympic Games remain one of the few moments in the global sports industry where women compete on an equally grand platform, with comparable visibility, storytelling, and investment, as male athletes. Time and time again, the Olympics prove that it’s possible for women athletes to be the biggest stars in sports when they receive adequate coverage and storytelling. ㅤ
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Which begs the question: If the Olympics consistently prove the marketability, demand, and return on investment behind women athletes, why hasn’t the broader sports industry adopted this model year-round?
Ahead of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games, Parity conducted new research in partnership with SurveyMonkey to better understand Olympic fandom, and specifically, perceptions of equality related to the Games. Nearly 12,000 adults across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia responded, and put (more) compelling data behind the business case for investing in Olympic women’s sports. In particular, the research revealed that:
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⛸️ The most popular event in the Winter Olympics is a women’s event. Women’s figure skating was ranked #1 in popularity among Winter Olympic events, outperforming men’s figure skating by 15 percentage points.
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🟰 Women’s events are more or equally as popular as the men’s events in 10 of the 15 sports at the Winter Olympics that host both men’s and women’s competitions.
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💭 When asked which athletes they were most excited to follow, 55% of mentions went to women athletes, compared to 45% for men.
During the Milano Cortina Games, we’re seeing these stats play out in real-time. This year’s U.S. coverage of the Winter Olympics by NBC – where many of the biggest stars are women athletes – is averaging 26.5M viewers across the broadcast network, Peacock, other NBCUniversal digital platforms, and Versant’s CNBC and USA Network. That represents a 93% increase from the comparable period during the 2022 Winter Olympics and marks the most-watched Winter Games (at this point) since the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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One of the biggest lessons from the growth of women’s sports over the past few years is that demand increases when supply increases. Every time the Olympics come around, they serve as an accelerant for the women’s sports movement — and a reminder that when women athletes have the same platforms, primetime slots, and storytelling depth historically reserved for men, their popularity soars.
That said, proof of concept shouldn’t live only within the Olympic cycle. The data shows audiences want more — and the ratings prove they’ll watch. Women Olympians aren’t only valuable during a three-week window. Investing in women athletes isn’t a feel-good initiative tied to the Olympic spotlight — it’s simply a smart, strategic growth play.
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The Olympics aren’t an outlier when it comes to the success of women’s sports. They’re evidence of what’s possible when parity becomes the standard, not the exception.
MEET CAROLINE FITZGERALD
Caroline Fitzgerald is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and a leading expert in women’s sports business and gender equity. A Sports Business Journal "2024 Power Player in Women's Sports," she covers the forces shaping the industry’s next era of growth.
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