The cold, hard truth

The GIST: On Monday, women athlete partnership platform Parity shared results from a survey of almost 12K adults across the U.S., Canada, the UK, Ireland, and Australia on how sports fans perceive gender equity in the upcoming Winter Olympics.

• The data shows fans are most excited about women’s events and women athletes, supporting the argument that companies should look to them to headline Olympic campaigns. And it’s not just fan sentiment that supports this: KPIs from past marketing campaigns prove women athletes can take brands to the top of the mountain.

⛸️ Women’s figure skating is the most popular Winter Olympics event, beating men’s by 15 percentage points. That’s the largest popularity differential across all women’s and men’s disciplines at the Games, although a large majority (79%) look forward to mixed gender figure skating events.

🚀 For at least 10 of the 15 sports that offer women’s and men’s events (cough, Nordic combined, cough), the women’s events are equally or more popular among fans. And among viewers excited to catch the Games, 25% plan to follow more women’s events than years past, with this jumping to 32% in the UK and Ireland.

📱 Audiences named more women athletes (55%) they were excited to follow compared to men (45%). Additionally, one in two U.S. adults surveyed agree Olympic sponsors should invest equally in marketing women and men athletes, although they lagged far behind other countries in terms of prioritizing gender equity at the Games.

The context: Marketing strategies tied to the Olympics can lead to 34% more revenue than standard seasonal approaches, and at the past several Winter Olympics, women athletes often made the biggest headlines. Athletes like Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin, Chloe Kim, and Eileen Gu had stellar performances, paving the way to becoming visible, powerful brand ambassadors.

The opportunity: Parity notes it has over 50 athletes competing at Milano Cortina 2026 and that brands can find opportunity beyond the big names. The company also stresses the importance of narrative alignment — while Vonn’s comeback story was perfect for her recent Figs campaign, sometimes the backstories of lesser-known athletes are the most aligned with a brand’s messaging.

• And as the Paralympics follow in March, brands should continue to consider the powerful opportunities there. Oksana Masters and Brenna Huckaby are two of the most prominent Para winter athletes and have the sponsorships to prove it: Huckaby has worked with Nulo and Saatva, while Masters has repped Visa and Lancôme. Snow much to work with.

💪 One way to raise girls’ self-esteem? Toss them a football — no, seriously. Getting young gals involved in sport is one of the top ways to inspire confidence in the leaders of tomorrow, and that’s why Toyota is throwing their support behind flag football.

• Toyota is the Presenting Partner of NFL FLAG Championships, Regionals and Local League Play, aka the world’s largest flag football organization, with more than 300K girls and boys directly supported by Toyota dealers nationwide

🏈 Even better, they’re creating an incredible opportunity for girls: Last night, Toyota hosted the Glow Up Classic, a girls-only flag game featuring the Bay Area’s best high school athletes and coached by Team Toyota’s NFL greats. Now that’s how you drive the game forward.

🔥 It’s The Heat Check, our weekly segment spotlighting Unrivaled’s spiciest showdowns. Eight games will grace our screens over the next few days, each one with the perfect mix of storylines and superstars, but one’s topping our must-watch list:

🦉 Lunar Owls BC at 👟 Laces BC — Tomorrow at 8:45 p.m. ET — TNT

• When Lunar Owls star Marina Mabrey is on, she’s on — just check Unrivaled’s single-game scoring record. But buckets won’t come easy against the league-best Laces, who boast two defensive juggernauts: Jackie Young and Brittney Sykes.