Over the past few years, the popularity of tennis has experienced a significant rise. The pandemic has notably contributed to a surge in recreational players, consequently influencing the number of viewers and bettors in the sport. Additionally, within the sportsbook industry, it is frequently mentioned that the number of tennis bettors surpasses that of tennis fans.
In light of these observations, one may wonder why there isn’t a greater focus from media companies, affiliates, and publishers on covering the sport. It is puzzling why there isn’t more extensive coverage of women’s tennis, which often garners more popularity than its male counterpart. Recent comparisons of TV viewership between men’s and women’s sports reveal that, over a span of 7 years, the women’s final of the tennis U.S. Open outperformed the men’s final in viewership for 5 of those years.
Source: US Open
Despite these discoveries, the remarkable viewership numbers for recent WNBA and Women’s March Madness games, and the anticipation surrounding the upcoming Women’s World Cup this summer, many media outlets put women’s sports on the back burner.
This not only does a disservice to our society but also leads these businesses to overlook the substantial benefits of creating content for an underserved market.
By now, I’m aware of what some of you might be thinking: “I’d love to feature women’s sports coverage on my website and generate revenue, but I don’t have the staffing and resources”. Well, what if there was a solution that would allow you to cover women’s sports comprehensively and do so at scale, with a significantly lower cost per article, while delivering proven SEO performance?
Enter Data Skrive.
Content you can scale
With our proprietary Fan Engagement solution that leverages generative AI, you can effortlessly generate content for every player and match in tennis. Consider this: 128 male and 128 female singles players are participating in each Grand Slam event, engaging in 7 rounds of competition. By publishing articles that cover each match and player, you can capitalize on the potential of long-tail searches and have coverage on all matches, no matter the outcome. Thanks to our advanced technology, for one customer, we can produce over 1.5k articles solely focused on Wimbledon alone and over 6k articles for all Grand Slam events!
Coverage of Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon 2023
One player that has seen a surge in popularity is Ons Jabeur. From her compelling story and dominance on the court to being featured in Netflix’s docuseries Break Point, she came into Wimbledon as the crowd favorite and the high-profile athlete all the major media outlets wanted to cover.
When ranking at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) makes or breaks your chances of being seen by the masses, covering an athlete like Jabeur is difficult when your competition has the domain strength to outrank a vast majority of websites. But, by targeting high-value, long-tail search queries like “Ons Jabeur odds to win Wimbledon”, and publishing at the right moment, Data Skrive’s articles occupy Google’s Quick Answers and two of the three Top Stories.
Coverage when it matters most
And since we’re on the topic, one of the biggest stories of Wimbledon 2023 is the upset of Ons Jabeur by an unseeded player, Marketa Vondrousova.
Due to the lack of sports journalists to cover all tennis players and matches, most websites can only focus on covering the top-seeded women’s players during major tournaments. Dedicated content for players like Vondrousova would have proven highly lucrative. When upsets unfold–as with Vondrousova–there is a noticeable surge in search volume (as you can see below with the Google Trends graph), with people searching for odds and information about players they may have never heard of before. Google Trends measures the popularity of specific search terms on Google and YouTube on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the highest. As you can see in the graph below, interest in Vondrousova peaked at 100 on the day of the Wimbledon semi-final, indicating people are eager to find out more and watch the next match featuring this unexpected star.
Source: Google Trends
And while most websites only started covering Vondrousova days before the Wimbledon final, Data Skrive was already publishing articles about her in May for the French Open and June for the Bett1open and the Eastbourne International tournament. No matter the interest, large or small, we generate content for people who need it in real-time.
Again, how is this even possible? Our sports articles are constantly updated in real-time, adapting to changing data before each match. New content for the upcoming match is delivered for all remaining players shortly after the conclusion of the previous match. Given the time-sensitive nature of sports, particularly tournament-style events, it’s essential to publish content immediately. People are curious about the next match as soon as the current match ends, and sometimes even before. Publishing immediately enables you to get a jump on competitors and secure the Google Top Stories carousel early, thus enhancing your chances of attracting organic traffic. Google Top Stories is a result format that often appears in SERPs related to facts or names related to current events. It has excellent visibility in SERPs and, as a result, is an excellent source of organic traffic.
With Data Skrive’s Fan Engagement Solution focused on publishing thousands of data-driven sports articles based on the latest odds, how-to-watch information, and player and team matchups, sports journalists will have the time to write feature articles that sports fans crave.
New opportunities for media companies
Undoubtedly, having a solution that generates content at scale would free up any writer’s time, allowing them to focus on in-depth pieces exploring players’ unique narratives and the challenges they have overcome. Sports writers can allocate their efforts towards crafting compelling stories that resonate with audiences on a deeper level, considering narratives like those of Ukrainian players and the personal struggles they face, or cover the unique stories of athletes –like Venus and Serena Williams–and the adversities encountered on their journey to become the best at their sport. This shift in focus not only adds depth to sports writers’ content but also engages readers with captivating tales of resilience, spotlighting the human side of the game and inspiring fans worldwide.
Conclusion
We’ve proven that all players and matches at a major event like Wimbledon can be easily covered, and no matter the timing, we dominate the SERPs to outperform our clients’ competitors with the most relevant sports content. Data Skrive enables publishers, sports books, and media companies to capture fans’ interest when it matters most. Oh, and in case it wasn’t clear, we produce (and see success with) more women’s sports content than any other provider. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding how your organization can effectively distribute content on a large scale.
Keep an eye out for upcoming installments in our Women in Sports blog series and how Data Skrive effectively amplifies the influence of women’s sports by delivering engaging content to fans when it matters most.
About Data Skrive
Data Skrive is revolutionizing how the world’s leading sports, media, and betting brands drive fan engagement through online content. With our nationwide Fan Engagement Network, sponsors can directly interact with sports fans through captivating, relevant, and SEO-friendly content that fosters loyalty, encourages repeat visits, and improves engagement. For more information, email us at info@dataskrive.com. For press inquiries, please email press@dataskrive.com.
