RBC and The Collective, a division of LA-based sports marketing talent management company Wasserman Media Group, have introduced a new study designed to show that investment in women athletes is a smart move for brands. The report looks at how the market currently values women athletes, their influence on fan behaviour and brand metrics, and offers strategies for approaching partnerships.

There is a noticeable pay gap between men and women in professional sports. On average, men earn 21-times more than women athletes, which means that women depend on sponsorship and endorsements two-times more than men do. Women’s average compensation split is 18% salary and 82% endorsement income. For men that split is 63% and 37%. As a result, women athletes tend to overdeliver for sponsors through exceptional fan and brand engagement. Even so, 90% of brand partnership dollars are directed to men athletes.

For the report, The Collective surveyed 1,800 North Americans in March. The results showed that 86% of general sports fans are interested in women’s sports. Women’s sports fans are also younger, more educated and more affluent than those that follow men’s sports. Seventy three percent of fans of women’s sports are age 18 to 44, 67% earn more than $100K USD a year, and 55% have at least a four-year degree.

Women athletes are able to build trusted relationships through social media, with 72% of fans interested in women athletes’ lifestyle, fashion and behind-the-scenes content of their lives outside of the sport. Only 45% of men’s sports fans are interested in the athlete’s life off the field.

Women athletes are also at the forefront of social movements, with 75% of their fans believing that teams, leagues and athletes should support social causes. Many of their sponsorships are built to accommodate their causes. A majority of fans of women athletes (89%) say they have been inspired by an athlete to take some form of social action.

Brand sponsors of women athletes benefit from the halo effect of associating with the athlete. Compared to fans of men’s sports, women’s sports fans are more open to commercial partnerships and twice as likely to recall brands they’ve seen during a game. In addition, compared to fans of men’s sports, women’s fans are 54% more aware of sponsors and 45% more willing to consider or purchase a sponsor brand.

Fans see women athletes as inspirational (31%), positive role models (28%), exemplifying excellence (22%) and trustworthy (19%). Women athletes drive twice the engagement on social media as men athletes, although men have larger numbers of social media followers.

One of the conclusions of the study is that, as women athletes become more sought after, and endorsements become more prevalent, the economic standards for women athletes will shift to reflect their true value.