The Athletic and Google are officially partners for women’s sports
The GIST: The Athletic and Google are officially partners on the women’s sports beat. The publication unveiled a multiplatform project yesterday to expand its newsroom and double its coverage of professional women’s sports. The initiative is backed by a multiyear agreement with Google.
The details: Thanks to the tech giant’s support, The Athletic will begin posting job listings this week. The outlet is seeking journalists to cover basketball and soccer, with some roles focused on the business of basketball and the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup. It also plans to expand podcast and newsletter offerings.
- The New York Times–owned publication aims to launch verticals dedicated to women’s golf, hockey and tennis as part of the collab. Google will also utilize paid media campaigns, with promotions mostly occurring on The Athletic and the NYT’s platforms.
The trend: Google isn’t the only brand influencing the women’s sports media landscape. Visa backed The Guardian’s digital, print and audio coverage of July’s Women’s Euro, and went on to be a launch partner of the publication’s women’s soccer podcast.
- For their part, Google is no stranger to women’s sports or media. The company recently inked deals with the WNBA and FIBA, and supported The New York Times’ expansion into virtual reality journalism in 2015.
Zooming out: After using its leverage to improve broadcast arrangements for professional women’s basketball, Google’s support for women’s sports is evolving through one of media’s most traditional (but cash-strapped) categories — journalism. Astute spending from brands could, in turn, help publications capitalize on the women’s sports boom.
- Focusing on women’s sports is also a wise business move for The Athletic — it gained over 3.2K subscribers following an investigative report on NWSL abuse last year. Perhaps more coverage will help the outlet finally become profitable.
