Women’s sports podcasts offer opportunity in saturated market

The GIST: It seems like everyone has a podcast these days — last week, Front Office Sports pointed out that Billie Jean King, Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, Sophie Cunningham, and the Williams sisters have all recently launched pods, not to mention Men In Blazers’ expanded slate. But how many is too many? In women’s sports, we may still have a ways to go to reach the peak.

• As the audience for women’s sports continues to grow, the media ecosystem is looking to meet the demand, meaning women’s sports pods have so much to capitalize on. Mic check.

The data: There may be too many pods on the men’s side: An overwhelming majority of Apple’s top 100 sports podcasts cover men’s sports, with The Mina Kimes Show (No. 65) featuring a rare woman host. The only women’s sports pod in the top 100 is Welcome to the Party (No. 93), followed by Bird’s Eye View (No. 102) and Post Moves (No. 120).

• But it’s worth noting where podcasts are accessed: Spotify’s Top 50 for sports looks different, and YouTube is actually the preferred platform for podcasts among 31% of weekly listeners followed by Spotify (27%) and Apple (15%). YouTube is also where sports stars like Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, and Sue Bird have amassed thousands of subscribers for their pods.

The landscape: The women’s sports pod boom corresponds with the sector’s recent explosive growth. iHeart Radio — which launched the first women’s sport audio platform in 2024 — has been transparent about ramping up production: These pods have reached 89M monthly listeners, saw downloads in the top 10%, and prompted nearly half of iHeart’s new sports podcasts to focus on the women’s game.

• Leading soccer podcast network Men In Blazers saw similar results when it launched The Women’s Game with Sam Mewis in 2024. In the vertical’s first six months, it saw 100K followers and about 100M impressions across social media platforms, reached No. 1 in U.S. soccer podcasts, and consistently ranked in the top five.

The opportunity: Nostalgia speaks to everyone these days, and that trend has flourished in the rewatch podcasts that review popular shows decades after wrap. Julian Edelman’s Games With Names relives great sports moments with stars like Brandi Chastain, which Front Office Sports’ new Second Acts Live is also doing with Sue Bird.

• Plus, podcasts are a prime opportunity for retired women athletes as the medium prizes storytelling, perspective, and wisdom. With the growth of today’s women’s sports, people still want to hear from OGs about their experiences and current perspectives — consider BJK and Bird’s numbers on Apple.

Zooming out: For successful podcasts capitalizing on popular trends, the next step is involving brands. Pod listeners are primed for ads, and women’s sports fans are favorable toward companies supporting their fave athletes. Knowing this, brands like Ally and Verizon have entered the chat, but there’s still a lot of real estate — consider OliPop’s merch drop with Good Vibes FC. Heard.