LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – SEPTEMBER 30: ESPN reporter Holly Rowe interviews Chelsea Gray #12, A’ja Wilson #22, Jackie Young #0, Aaliyah Nye #13 and Dana Evans #11 of the Las Vegas Aces after the team’s 107-98 overtime victory over the Indiana Fever in Game Five of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs semifinals at Michelob ULTRA Arena Michelob ULTRA Arena on September 30, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Aces won the series three games to two. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images)
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The numbers tell a story that Rita Ferro, President of Global Advertising at Disney, has been building toward for years. The 2024 WNBA season delivered ESPN’s second most-watched coverage ever, up 170 percent year-over-year, with 54 million unique viewers and 22 games seeing over one million viewers tune in. The 2025 WNBA regular season built on this viewership success as ESPN networks recorded their most watched WNBA regular season, and a 6 percent increase from 2024 viewership numbers. The 2025 regular season games averaged 1.3 million viewers, including ESPN’s most-watched WNBA game on record when 2.7 million viewers tuned in on May 17 to watch the Chicago Sky at Indiana Fever on ABC.
For Ferro and her ESPN executive counterparts, this growth was inevitable, not some huge payout from a risky bet. “Women’s sports are one of the fastest-growing opportunities in all of sports, full stop,” Ferro said. “The trajectory is undeniable. We’re already seeing breakthrough moments with record ratings, sold-out arenas, and cultural relevance that rivals any other property.”
Importantly, it’s becoming clear that this trajectory of women’s sport growth didn’t happen by accident. Instead, it’s the product of strategic decisions made by women leaders at both Disney and ESPN who saw opportunity when others saw uncertainty. These women leaders have been building up business cases for women’s sport while others continued to consider the industry to be a charity case. As noted by Ferro, “…diversity of thought leads to better outcomes. The more perspectives you have at the table, the stronger the decisions. And for me personally, as a working mom, I feel a responsibility to set an example, not just for my daughter, but for all young women watching what’s possible.”
CORPORATE – The Disney Advertising Upfront is a showcase event that brings together all the content corners of The Walt Disney Company on one stage. On Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at North Javits in New York City, an incredible roster of all-star talent will tout their connections to storytelling, Disney, and each other while showcasing their latest projects for the upcoming year. (Disney/David Russell) RITA FERRO (PRESIDENT, GLOBAL ADVERTISING, DISNEY)
Disney
These sentiments became even more apparent across my recent conversations with four key Disney and ESPN executives. In addition to Rita Ferro, three ESPN executives (Roz Durant with it the Executive Vice President, Programming & Acquisitions, Tina Thornton, who is the Executive Vice President, Creative Studio and Marketing, and Chara-Lynn Aguiar, who is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer), shared similar sentiments that intentional and representative leadership has been able to create what Durant described as unstoppable momentum, “the sky is the limit and women’s sports are on a rocket ship!”
These women leaders noted that ESPN has played a key role in the women’s sports boom through decades of strategic investment, innovative partnerships, and what Ferro described as “conviction plus proof,” further noting that, “ESPN was one of the first to invest heavily in women’s sports, giving it prime exposure and treating it with the same seriousness as men’s sports.” This leadership approach provides an important blueprint for other organizations, as both Disney and ESPN are showing that representative leadership drives both cultural change and business results, even within an industry that has historically been dominated by men and men’s sports. As Ferro put it, “representation matters. If you can see it, you can be it. Visibility of women leaders both inspires the next generation and normalizes women in positions of influence. That’s one of the reasons ESPN has doubled down on women’s sports, because visibility creates momentum.” And this representative leadership approach has led to one of the best sport investments to date.
New York, NY – August 21, 2025 – NYSE: Elle Duncan, Tina Thornton, Rita Ferro, Chara-Lynn Aguiar, Judy Agay, and Rosalyn Durant at the Bell ringing at the New York Stock Exchange during the 2025 Direct to Consumer Launch in New York City. (Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)
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“Women’s Sports is part of ESPN’s DNA”
While other media competitors are playing catchup in trying to cash in on the momentum across women’s sports, the women leaders I spoke with at both Disney and ESPN each made sure to explain that they have been here all along. “Women’s Sports is part of ESPN’s DNA,” said Tina Thornton, who has been with the company for more than 30 years. “ESPN isn’t new to Women’s Sports. We’ve been a partner of the NCAA Women’s Tournament since 1996.” Chara-Lynn Aguiar reinforced these points from Thornton, sharing that “this is not a new strategy for us, we have been investing in the space for many years and we have credibility.” She noted that “male and female executives alike all champion women’s sports” and points to recent examples including the “WNBA, NCAA, NWSL, WLL, as well as our programming team optimizing our schedule.”
The difference in how ESPN has worked with women’s sports over the decades, especially once compared with the later-arriving competitors, have been the efforts to treat women’s sports as more of a core business strategy rather than experimental or charity programming. “Our vision has been to make women’s sports not a special category, but a core part of our programming and business strategy,” Durant explained. This long-term commitment created what Aguiar called credibility in the marketplace. “We also are best in class when it comes to serving sports fans anytime, anywhere. Additionally, the benefit of the Disney ‘reach machine’ coupled with ESPN’s brand strength/connection with fans is highly attractive to leagues.”
The Strategy Behind the Success
It became clear that the business approach these women leaders have worked so hard to develop goes beyond simply airing women’s games. Ferro explained, “we put women’s sports where fans already are, prime scheduling, shoulder programming, and cross-platform reach, so brands could scale from day one.” Thornton described how this strategy has evolved over decades, “while growth didn’t happen overnight, there was a steady drumbeat over the years.” She credits former ESPN VP of Programming, Carol Stiff, “who advocated for airtime and used her deep relationships to create space for elite matchups and athletes. Over time, programming expanded, games moved into prime-time slots, and our broadcast presentation grew more sophisticated.”
The cross-platform approach has also become a crucial component of the success ESPN is experiencing. Thornton noted how “the evolution carried into cross-platform storytelling and, eventually, into Disney, where we reached broader, more casual audiences on Good Morning America with the support of former ESPN talent Robin Roberts.” In addition, Ferro noted that she has also been intentional about making the business case for women’s sports clearer for advertisers. “We’ve also made it easier for advertisers with clear playbooks, flexible buying options, and smarter targeting. Then we measured what matters and shared results tied directly to business outcomes.”
Ojai, CA – October 23, 2023 – Ojai Valley Inn: Chara-Lynn Aguiar, Judy Agay, Tina Thornton, Rita Ferro, Denise Pellegrini and Rosalyn Durant at the Summit Opening for the 2023 espnW: Women + Sports Summit. (Photo by Chloe Jackman/ESPN Images)
Chloe Jackman
Durant, who oversees this integrated approach in her current role that spans “programming, media rights acquisitions, ESPN Direct-to-Consumer, ESPN International, Andscape, and espnW” noted that this approach allows for what she calls “thoughtfully and intentionally prioritizing women’s sports [to] serve a broad range of fans and create meaningful partnerships that drive growth for athletes, leagues and brands.” This integrated approach has been further realized through platforms such as espnW. According to Durant, “espnW has been a cornerstone in advancing women’s sports. It’s not just a brand, it’s a powerful platform that amplifies the stories of women athletes, provides resources for women in sports and creates spaces for authentic connection and engagement. By spotlighting female athletes and building a community around them, espnW has helped shift the narrative. It plays a key role in breaking down barriers, expanding representation and elevating the visibility of women’s sports and women in sports.”
Representative Leadership is a Competitive Edge
All four women leaders pointed to representative leadership as the Disney and ESPN competitive advantage. Previous research also supports the idea that advancing women into leadership roles brings added value to a company beyond a simple notion of “good policy.” In a 2025 study published in the journal, Gender Issues, researchers found that, on average, subordinates rated women sport industry leaders higher than their men counterparts across 15 key leadership competencies.
“Representative leadership is a competitive advantage,” Ferro stated. “Different perspectives drive better decisions. Teams that reflect a variety of experiences are more willing to test, learn, and scale. They approach risk differently and bring forward creative ideas that push us past ‘how it’s always been done.’” Durant connected these sentiments directly to their more recent audience expansion across sports and leagues. She shared that, “representative leadership is critical. If you want to think broader, reach broader and grow bigger, it starts with having a great team and listening to them. When the leadership team reflects the communities and audiences we serve, we’re able to make smarter decisions and create authentic partnerships to accelerate growth.”
CORPORATE – The Disney Advertising Upfront is a showcase event that brings together all the content corners of The Walt Disney Company on one stage. On Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at North Javits in New York City, an incredible roster of all-star talent will tout their connections to storytelling, Disney, and each other while showcasing their latest projects for the upcoming year. (Disney/Michael Le Brecht) RITA FERRO (PRESIDENT, GLOBAL ADVERTISING, DISNEY)
Disney
Thornton also discussed the practical business impact of representative leadership towards audience growth and expansion efforts sharing that, “expanding our audience is a core priority at ESPN. To do that effectively, we need to reflect that audience. Representative leadership is essential to understanding the interests, values, and behaviors of our collective fan base.” These leaders made it clear that, in their extensive professional experiences, they have found that representative voices at the table enable more diverse and innovative business decisions. For Aguiar, she largely framed this in terms of innovation, noting that “having a variety of perspectives and voices at the table fuels innovation and business outcomes, and for us, also helps further our mission of serving sports fans.”
Recent research has also uncovered successful outcomes similar to those that have emerged from representative leadership that these Disney and ESPN women leaders are noting in practice. In McKinsey’s 2023 report titled, “Diversity Matters Even More,” they found that companies in the top quartile for gender representation on executive teams were 39 percent more likely to outperform financially than those in the bottom quartile. McKinsey’s analysis of 1,265 companies across 23 countries further confirmed that representative leadership teams are also associated with not only associated with greater social impact and more satisfied workforces in addition to higher financial returns.
The Business Results
These strategies and the representative leadership approach are paying off in measurable ways across multiple fronts. According to Aguiar, “all of this has led to substantial growth in women’s sports consumption across platforms and content types, with record setting seasons across a variety of women’s sports over the last few years.” At the NCAA level, Ferro was able to rattle off some of the impressive and concrete outcomes of these strategies. Ferro explained that their “…NCAA partnership is another cornerstone. The new $920 million agreement includes 40 championships, 21 of them women’s, delivering more than 2,300 hours of women’s championship coverage every year.” The advertising results have been equally impressive. “We’ve seen sponsors step up in powerful ways,” Ferro noted. “Ally, for example, dedicated 90 percent of its media spend directly to women’s sports coverage, setting a new industry standard.”
Thornton further described how the NCAA tournament continues to transform and grow through increased coverage and intentional programming decisions. She shared that, “when you combine that with strong storytelling and significant investment in areas like marketing, production, and distribution, you drive engagement. Fans connect with that positive energy.” As a result, it becomes clear that a key component of the business success for ESPN’s women’s sport market is that these results extend beyond individual properties. As Ferro explained, “consistent, premium coverage has built multi-generational fandom and brought new, highly engaged audiences to our platforms. That momentum has opened the door to new categories and first-time advertisers, while giving long-time partners fresh ways to show up.”
New York, NY – August 21, 2025: Rosalyn Durant at the bell ringing at the New York Stock Exchange during the 2025 Direct to Consumer Launch in New York City. (Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)
Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images
The Future of Women’s Sports Growth
Looking ahead, all four leaders predicted sustained growth across a variety of women’s sports leagues as well as Disney and ESPN’s role moving forward. These women leaders seem to share in the beliefs of the common sentiment among women’s sport fans, that this growth is a movement rather than merely a moment. “This isn’t just a moment in time,” Aguiar emphasized. “Women’s sports are seeing significantly increased viewership, investment and fan engagement. Growth of women’s sports is not surprising to ESPN, it’s been a core part of our content strategy for many years, and will continue to be as we focus on our ongoing digital evolution.” Ferro is currently categorizing the future growth of women’s sports as an important cultural transformation, with similarities to men’s sport culture. “The future will be defined by stars, scale, and sustained momentum. We’ll see first-name recognition for athletes, sell-out merchandise drops, and content from women’s games driving the biggest conversations of the day. This isn’t a trend. This is a movement, and it’s only accelerating.”
Durant expects continued platform expansion across women’s sports, noting that “we’re already seeing historic viewership numbers and rising sponsorships, and I expect that will only continue. There’s no going back! Platforms like espnW will be instrumental in sustaining this momentum.” At the broader industry level, Ferro wants others to take note based on the success of the Disney and ESPN approach. “For brands, the message is clear, this is where the energy and the next generation of fans already are. If you wait, you’ll be playing catch-up,” explained Ferro.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JULY 27: Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever signs autographs for fans prior to the game between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever at the United Center on July 27, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
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As women’s sport continues to grow, women leaders should continue to be trusted to be at the forefront of innovation and drive business decisions. That being said, with greater decision-making power comes a great responsibility for women leaders to stand firm on bold predictions and business support for women’s sport. As Durant noted, “at Disney and ESPN, we see women’s sports as a growth engine and understand that our leadership position comes with a great responsibility. Our mission is to serve sports fans anytime, anywhere, and that includes making sure women’s sports are consistently accessible and celebrated.”
As the numbers continue to prove what Ferro, Durant, Thornton, and Aguiar have long known, other organizations would be wise to follow Disney and ESPN’s blueprint of investing early, investing consistently, and promoting representative leadership to help drive innovation and business success. That rocket ship Durant described doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
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