NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 10, 2026--
Women’s sports advertising continues to outperform primetime TV, according to the third annual Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report from EDO, the TV outcomes company.
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Women’s sports ads generated 15% more impact than the average ad on primetime broadcast and cable, marking the second consecutive year this programming has exceeded the benchmark. From NCAA basketball, lacrosse, and gymnastics to U.S. Open tennis and the WNBA, women’s sports are an exciting and rich platform for brands aiming to connect with highly engaged audiences and drive tangible consumer action.
"Another year above the primetime benchmark proves women’s sports isn’t a moment — it’s a mainstay," said Laura Grover, SVP, Head of Client Solutions at EDO. "For the second straight year, ads in women’s sports outperformed primetime, and brands that align creative with cultural moments are seeing measurable engagement gains."
Many top brands from diverse industries — including Target, KFC, Skechers, Home Depot, and Outback Steakhouse — ranked among 2025’s most effective TV advertisers in women’s sports, as measured by consumer behaviors that are proven predictors of future sales, like brand searches and site visits. As women’s sports continue to deliver substantial engagement, cross-platform outcomes measurement provides brands, agencies, and publishers with an immediate view of how TV ads drive results.
"For brands, the opportunity is clear. Women’s sports deliver a powerful combination of engagement, authenticity and cultural relevance to drive meaningful advertising outcomes,” said Danielle Brown, SVP, Sports Streaming and Brand Solutions at Disney Advertising. “What began as a surge in popularity around NCAA championships and the WNBA has expanded into high-value programming across tennis, soccer and emerging leagues."
Key findings from EDO’s 2026 Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report include:
Visit edo.com/womens-sports to download EDO’s 2026 Women’s Sports TV Outcomes Report for the latest insights on top-performing ads, programming trends, and creative strategies.
About EDO
EDO is the TV outcomes company. Our leading measurement platform connects Convergent TV airings to the ad-driven consumer behaviors most predictive of future sales. EDO empowers the advertising industry to maximize media impact, measure creative performance, and know the fair value of every impression — across linear and streaming for an increasingly programmatic world. By combining immediate engagement signals with world-class decision science and Vertical AI, EDO equips industry leaders with syndicated, investment-grade data that aligns media to business results — with detailed competitive, category, and historical insights. Leading brands, agencies, networks, streamers, and studios trust EDO’s TV intelligence to know what works.
EDO TV Outcomes Report: Women’s Sports Cement Cultural Impact in 2025, Outperforming Primetime for Second Straight Year
The power conferences tend to hog the spotlight during championship week, whether it's top-ranked Duke trying to win another ACC Tournament title, second-ranked Arizona trying to win its first in the Big 12, or all those other schools trying to spring an upset.
One of the most intriguing tournaments, though, just might be the Mid-American Conference.
No. 20 Miami (Ohio) brings a 31-0 record into Cleveland, Ohio, after becoming only the third school to run the table in the league, and the first to do so since the RedHawks — then known as the Redskins — pulled off the feat nearly seven decades ago. The tournament's top seed plays No. 8 seed UMass in the opening game Thursday at Rocket Arena.
The RedHawks might just need to win it. And keep winning.
Because while fans have come to love the gritty, win-at-all costs RedHawks, and AP Top 25 voters have had them solidly in their poll for weeks, the advanced metrics are far more skeptical. The NET rankings used by the NCAA to help seed its 68-team field had them at No. 55 on Sunday night, while KenPom's ranking had them at No. 91 as this week began.
The reason is simple: Their strength of schedule is 274th out of 365 teams in Division I basketball. It includes NAIA schools Indiana University East and Milligan, and Mercyhurst, which just moved up to Division I a couple of years ago. In fact, the RedHawks' biggest wins have come against Akron and Kent State, fellow MAC schools that need a tourney title to make the NCAA field.
RedHawks coach Travis Steele is right to bristle at the naysayers, though. Miami has merely played the schedule that was put in front of it. And much of that was made years ago, before anyone knew just how good the RedHawks could be.
“I knew it was going to be a complete rebuild,” said Steele, who is finishing up his fourth season after a four-year stint at Xavier. “But we wanted to build it the slow, steady way, to where we could get a foundation to where it's more sustainable.”
The first couple of years were lean, but Miami went 25-9 last season, when it lost by two to Akron in the MAC title game.
In other words, the RedHawks are no one-hit wonder.
“Where we are in college athletics, a lot of things are year to year,” Steele said. “Like, you can put together one really good team and you can be awful the next year. We won 25 games last year. We won 31 this year. But our goal is not to win 31 games. Our goal is to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. That's where anything can happen.”
So long as the RedHawks get there, first.
The Blue Devils could be without Patrick Ngongba II and Caleb Foster because of injuries when the No. 1 seed begins the ACC tourney on Thursday. Virginia is seeded second and earned a double-bye, as did No. 3 seed Miami and No. 4 seed North Carolina.
Defending champion Houston is seeded second behind Arizona in the Big 12 tourney, while No. 3 seed Kansas and No. 4 seed Texas Tech also earned byes into Thursday's quarterfinals. Seventh-ranked Iowa State is seeded fifth and will open Wednesday.
The hottest team in the nation might be St. John's, which has won 16 of its last 17 and swiped the No. 1 seed in the Big East away from UConn. They both will play quarterfinals on Friday along with No. 3 seed Villanova and fourth-seeded Seton Hall.
Michigan is seeded first in the Big Ten and will play its quarterfinal Friday. Second-seeded Nebraska, third-seeded Michigan State and No. 4 seed Illinois also got two free passes, while Iowa is among the likely NCAA tourney teams that must play Wednesday.
Defending national champion Florida has the No. 1 seed in its conference tournament. It will play its quarterfinal Friday along with No. 2 seed Alabama, third-seeded Arkansas and No. 4 seed Vanderbilt.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Miami (Ohio) guard Trey Perry reacts after defeating Ohio in an NCAA college basketball game, Friday, March 6, 2026, in Athens, Ohio. (AP Photo/HG Biggs)
