When young Tasmanian Lily Poulet-Harris first picked up her bat and headed out to the crease in 1894 she could not have known that her actions would forever change how women around the world would relate to the game of cricket.
As the captain of the Oyster Cove women’s team playing in the competition she launched - the first of its kind in the colonies - the founding mother of women’s cricket in Australia was setting the scene for what more than a century later would become one of the fastest growing sectors of the game: female participation.
According to the 2013/14 National Cricket Census carried out by research firm Street Ryan on behalf of Cricket Australia, women comprise 22% (around 300,000) of total cricket participants in Australia.
And the increasing appeal of the game, attributable, in part, to star players like Meg Lanning, Alex Blackwell and Ellyse Perry, is having a noticeable impact on audience figures.
Last summer, 69% of all Australian women and 67.7% of women aged between 25 and 54 tuned in to Nine’s Summer of Cricket broadcasts.
And with the numbers showing that women influence the purchase of around 90% of most goods and services, it is a segment marketers can ill afford to overlook, particularly during the all important pre- and post-Christmas national spending spree.
The Media Store’s head of sponsorship and integration, Sandra Wiles, whose agency represents Cricket Australia partner Toyota, says statistics such as these demonstrate that advertisers, media buyers and planners need to think beyond the blokey Australian sports fan stereotype and work on engaging the female fans. However, Wiles warns, it isn’t just about the suitability of a product demographically.
“It is about the content of the message that needs to work in context. Live sport is a passionate space and should be treated accordingly. It is also one where humour works brilliantly," she said.
Venus, a communications agency that specialises in marketing to women, reiterates the fact that women buy or influence the purchase of 80% of healthcare, 93% of food, 89% of bank accounts, 93% of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, 80% of new cars, 93% of holidays and 89% of home computers, leaving few product categories where men are the key decision-makers. Despite this, much of the marketing directed at fans of the game has a male skew.
Nine Entertainment Company’s Sports sales director, Sam Brennan, believes the upcoming summer presents a real opportunity for brands willing to target female consumers, or female-targeted brands, to enter a space typically dominated by male-orientated advertisers.
Brennan says traditionally there’s a “hard and fast way” of reaching the female demographic through programming during certain parts of the year. However, with women now having a much more visible presence in and around the game, the rules are changing.
With Nine set to broadcast three women’s international T20 matches in January, advertisers now have new vehicles from which to reach their female markets.
“I think it goes back to the incremental audience that cricket can deliver,” Brennan said.
"Cricket can reach a large proportion of the female audience through TV programming but there’s also a significant amount of females that you’re missing out on by doing that. By the pure weight of numbers that cricket delivers you’re able to reach those very difficult-to-reach females through cricket across summer.”
You would imagine Lily Poulet-Harris would be quite chuffed if she could see how it’s all playing out.
AdNews, in partnership with NEC, has compiled the Summer Planning Guide.
Pick up your copy of the guide inside the latest print issue of AdNews, out now.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.