AT&T assistant VP Sabina Ahmed chats about going all in on women’s sports

The GIST: This summer, AT&T featured Angel City FC captain Sarah Gorden and Texas Tech soccer standout Kylie Bahr in its popular “She’s Connected” campaign, which the telecomms brand launched in 2020 to spotlight women athlete entrepreneurs.

• Last week, we spoke with AT&T assistant vice president, sponsorships & experiential Sabina Ahmed about the success it’s seen by investing in women athletes.

• “Supporting women's sports is a core part of AT&T's sponsorship strategy,” Ahmed told us. She shared campaign stats from the past six years, as well as the brand’s broader wins following deeper women’s sports investments. Let’s dive in.

🚀 Since launching in 2020, “She’s Connected” content has generated over 160M video views. That includes 2.2K YouTube views from Gorden and Bahr’s recent episode after three weeks and 5.9M views for a teaser dropped three weeks ago.

🏀 AT&T’s consistent presence as a WNBA Changemaker has made a difference. Ahmed said because of it, the brand has driven 8M engagements across its digital and onsite integrations, along with partnerships from league stars like A'ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu.

💰 AT&T has seen “tremendous momentum” in women's basketball. Here, audience growth translates into “meaningful business impact,” added Ahmed. Investing in women’s college basketball spurred record fan engagement, which converted to YoY growth in positive brand perception.

⚽ But it’s not just basketball. In the first year of its multiyear deal with the NWSL, AT&T’s partnership drove 69% brand consideration and perception among fans, showing that soccer can draw crowds and keep them engaged.

The why: Ahmed gives a simple reason for why investing in women’s sports is good for business — its fans represent “one of the most engaged and fastest-growing audiences.” AT&T sees the same opportunity in soccer, where longstanding deals across U.S. Soccer and MLS see “brand association, consideration, and perception consistently perform above portfolio average.”

• “Women's soccer helps us connect with young, tech-savvy fans who overindex in their passion for the sport,” Ahmed said. Like Parity said, women’s soccer really does scream in the data.