Women’s sports are a movement, not a moment, says Tinuiti’s Shasta Cafarelli

Once again, live sports was a cornerstone of upfronts presentations. And women’s sports, specifically, have never been bigger.

The WNBA’s media rights deal has now ballooned to $3.1 billion, up $900 million from the deal signed in 2024.

Upstart leagues like the NWSL are now broadcasted nationally on CBS, ESPN, ION, Paramount+ and ESPN+, and the PWHL aired its first national game earlier this year on ION. This opens up more programming for TV networks and a new entry point for brands.

This momentum is anything but temporary, according to Tinitui’s head of media investment, Shasta Cafarelli.

“There was a sentiment in the marketplace, ‘Oh, women’s sports is having a moment,’” Cafarelli said. “And it’s like, no, no, no... This is not a moment. This is a movement.”

She spoke with The Current’s Lee Singletary about fandom and the importance of brands showing up authentically when investing in women’s sports.

This upfront season, what has stood out to you based on the presentations you’ve been a part of?

Something that I love about this year is I feel like the walls between channels are just completely breaking down, and I don’t even just mean linear TV versus streaming TV.

Our partners are really embracing creators. There’s a huge convergence of audio and podcasting and video.

Commerce and retail data have entered the chat. It’s been a really exciting, dynamic upfront week to hear how our partners are leveraging that.

How are you thinking about fandom in this moment?

There’s been a [total] shift from talking in terms of impressions and even viewership to fandom—on the screen, off the screen. The ways [in which that] shows up in real life, which we as media consumers can really identify with. And I think that really resonates with our brands and the way that we think about media at Tinuiti.

Talk to me about staying on top of trends and translating your insights into media plans on behalf of your clients.

More and more, especially at Tinuiti, what we’re building for is a very audience-centric approach. How do we do that with the most information possible — the richest inputs that we can get.

And then my media team’s job is really to go deploy that planning, making sure that we can actually make those campaigns come to life. It is a complex landscape. We are trying to turn that complexity into a strategic advantage for our brands.

And when you think about the audience first and the planning that comes together, as long as we can go buy against that — which I feel like we increasingly can with what our partners are building and the convergence that’s happening — that’s really where the magic happens.

Live sports remains one of the most valuable assets in media, especially as games move to streaming. How are you advising clients to think differently about their sports investments?

Live events, and sports in particular, are really that final frontier of water-cooler style, I'm going to sit down, we’re going to be talking about this the next day, everybody is watching it at the same time. And that’s incredible. We know that it moves the needle for brands from a reach perspective. Now, it’s about how we actually engage outside of the whistle.

It is not enough to just show up in that moment and hope that carries you through from a business perspective.

So we’re thinking about how we build interest and seed creative elements leading up to an event and then, more importantly, around it and after it. There’s a lot of social conversation that happens leading into and out of a big sporting event, whether it’s the Super Bowl, the Olympics [or the] WNBA playoffs.

We have to really consider how people are experiencing that and make sure our brands show up in all of those places.

Yes, I love a tent-pole event, but that can’t be the one and only way that we activate. It really needs to be a very holistic campaign, and that can span weeks or months, depending on how we approach it.

Women’s sports has been one of the biggest growth stories in recent media history. What are you hearing from brands in terms of their involvement?

I think we’ve reached a real tipping point.

There was kind of an early mover advantage for brands that embraced women’s sports as it was on this ascent. And now we’re here: it’s mainstream, it’s prime time. There’s a lot of opportunity for brands, and it has very, very mass appeal. Brands need to think really closely about how they show up and not just make it a one-and-done engagement.

There was a sentiment in the marketplace, ‘oh, women’s sports is having a moment.’ And it’s like, no, no, no... This is not a moment, this is a movement. And it is only going to grow.

I want brands to consider it the same way: think long term, think about athlete partnerships, and the ways that they can stand out in that regard.

It sounds like if you’re not engaging with women’s sports today, it’s not too late but you have some catching up to do.

You’re on it.