WTA’S SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITY IS 4X MORE FANS IN EIGHTEEN MONTHS
WTA’S SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITY IS 4X MORE FANS IN EIGHTEEN MONTHS
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced today that
the social media community of the WTA and its players has surpassed 23 million fans, more
than quadrupling in size over the past 18 months. The growth in social media fans of the sport
has been highlighted by strong growth in the WTA’s Facebook page; significant increases in
the social media fan bases of WTA players; and enormous gains across social media channels
in China.
“Fans love social media and they really connect with women’s tennis through it. We like it
because it establishes a deeper engagement with our fans. It also drives the growth of our
player, tournament and sponsor businesses, and is a strategic priority for the WTA. This digital
engagement will continue to become more and more important as we seek to grow our
sport’s popularity,” said Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the WTA.
The increased popularity of the WTA and its stars in the social media space is in part a by-
product of women’s tennis being one of the most global sports in the world. Earlier this year,
the ten players in the World Top 10 Rankings hailed from ten different nations.
The WTA’s remarkable fan growth has been achieved by the sport working closely with the
players, sponsors and tournaments on creating an entire ecosystem of new destinations for
tennis fans in social media. In addition to news, updates, photos, and videos, the WTA uses
social media for geo-targeted messages and unique content, promoting ticket sales and
alerting fans whenever their favorite player’s match is on TV.
Additionally, the WTA’s new global advertising campaign “Strong is Beautiful” has driven
online interest in women’s tennis, with the TV spots viewed on YouTube close to 1.8 million
times. Earlier this year, the WTA partnered with its lead global sponsor Sony Ericsson for a
tennis-themed online TV show series “Xperia Hot Shots” which has since grown close to
819,000 Facebook fans and achieved 3 million YouTube views in a matter of months.
Maria Sharapova, three-time Grand Slam Champion and listed by Forbes as the most
marketable female athlete on the planet, leads the WTA player Facebook fan count with 5.3
million followers, boosting the number by 250,000 new fans every month. On Twitter Serena
Williams is number one among WTA players, with a following of more than 2.1 million fans.
A trailblazer for women’s tennis in China, French Open Champion Li Na, leads the WTA’s
Chinese social media fan base with 2.7 million fans on Sina Weibo. While women’s tennis was
rapidly growing in popularity in China even before Li Na became the first Chinese player in
history to win a Grand Slam earlier this summer, the Chinese star has given the sport an extra
push in penetrating the largest Internet market on the pl anet. Close to 420 million people in
China already use the Internet, giving the WTA unprecedented potential to connect with
current and future fans of the sport. In China, the WTA has partnered with such national social
media companies as Sina Weibo, Renren, Baidu and QQ, the outcome of which has resulted in a series of social media channels for local fans to connect with their favorite tennis players in
Chinese. Now counting a combined 10 million social media fans in China, WTA and its players
are in a prime position to promote women’s tennis and attract new sponsors interested in
reaching Chinese audiences.
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