The All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN) recently celebrated one year of bringing live basketball, soccer, volleyball, and other events from around the world to a global audience. Having relationships with more than 25 professional women’s leagues brings content from the U.S., Australia, Mexico, and across Europe with the UEFA.
“Making sure that we represent women’s sports in an entertaining and holistic way,” said chief content officer Tony Parrish, a former NFL player, of the AWSN goal. “I feel there’s a responsibility to try to represent traditional sports, sports that are on the rise, and then sports that are a bit of discovery … We’re always open to finding new leagues and collaborators. We’re helping these leagues grow.”
AWSN is the brainchild of Whoopi Goldberg, inspired by her love of sports and a desire to increase female representation in sports programming. It is available through multiple platforms and accessible in 65 countries. One of the goals is to cultivate community, so there are watch parties and even the All Women’s Sports Bar Network.
In its first year, AWSN executives have been able to see audience behaviors and observe how people watch content.
“We’re thinking about sports being played in areas of the world where you don’t realize sports exist,” said Parrish. An example is the Saudi Women’s Premier League (soccer). “People have said to me, ‘I didn’t know they even played soccer in Saudi Arabia.’ The idea is women are participating in these sports all across the world and they’re not getting the visibility that they should. We like the idea of bringing that to an audience through a dedicated women’s sports channel.”
There is also a desire to fuel the grassroots, such as looking at emerging leagues and sports, and helping them progress — “working together so we can get to the point where it can be broadcast on AWSN and represent the women’s world of sports,” Parrish said. “We’re not just broadcasters; we find ourselves consulting and trying to help elevate as a whole.”
AWSN recently broadcast roller derby, a sport that has existed for decades but received little mainstream exposure. “We worked with Rose City Rollers in Portland, Oregon, directly,” Parrish said. “They have a fantastic derby team, one of the best in the world … It was an opportunity to take a sport that is very popular and give them an elevated platform.”