Ally Financial Hits 50% Women's Sports Spending Target One Year Ahead of 2022 Plan
Ally Financial has reached its goal of allocating 50% of its sports advertising budget to women's sports ahead of schedule. The company sponsors the Unrivaled three-on-three women's basketball league and plans investments in ESPN's 'Women’s Sports Sundays' starting summer 2026. New deals with Disney, CBS, and Scripps include primetime slots for women's championships.
variety.com# Ally Reaches Women's Sports Spending Milestone Ally Financial has devoted 50% of its sports spending to women's sports one year earlier than planned. The company set a five-year timeline in 2022 to achieve this balance. Ally is a major sponsor of the Unrivaled three-on-three women’s basketball league.
Ally plans to invest ad dollars in 'Women’s Sports Sundays,' a new ESPN showcase that will replace 'Sunday Night Baseball' in summer 2026. Andrea Brimmer, Ally’s chief marketing and public relations officer, stated that in 2022, Ally was spending 90% of its sports budget on men’s sports and 10% on women’s sports.
Executives at Ally learned that year that 94% of women in C-suite roles had played sports at some point in their lifetimes.
Background on Ally's 2022 Insights In 2022, executives at Ally learned that women’s sports received less than 5% of overall media coverage.
This data prompted Ally's decision to reallocate its sports budget over five years. The company accomplished the 50% target in 2025, according to unattributed reports. Andrea Brimmer noted that Ally has gone to zero in terms of any of its cable investment that isn’t tied to sports.
WPP Media, which represents Ally, found that overall viewer impressions in women’s sports grew 79% in 2025 compared with 2024. WPP Media also reported that ad spend on women’s sports increased 69% in 2025 compared with 2024.
New Advertising Partnerships Ally cut new ad deals with Disney, CBS, and Scripps.
These deals in some cases called for moving championship women’s games to primetime. In some instances, the agreements involved getting networks to pick up rights to women’s sports they had not linked up with in the past. Ally sponsors recap shows and video podcasts built around women’s sports.
WPP Media found that Ally’s ads in women’s sports generated 85% higher engagement compared to commercials that ran in non-sports programming on broadcast and cable. com reported these developments in Ally's marketing strategy.
Statements on Women's Sports Initiatives Andrea Brimmer cited new efforts by Sue Bird and Billie Jean King as highly entertaining.
“We decided it would take five years to devote 50% of our sports spending to women’s sports.”
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Story Timeline
4 events- 2025
Ally devotes 50% of sports spending to women's sports one year early; viewer impressions grow 79%, ad spend increases 69%.
3 sourcesunattributed · WPP Media · WPP Media - Summer 2026
Ally invests in ESPN's 'Women’s Sports Sundays' replacing 'Sunday Night Baseball'.
1 sourceunattributed - 2022
Ally learns 94% of C-suite women played sports, women's sports get <5% media coverage; sets five-year 50% spending goal.
3 sourcesAlly executives · Ally executives · Ally - Recent
Ally cuts ad deals with Disney, CBS, Scripps for primetime women's games and new rights; sponsors Unrivaled league and podcasts.
4 sourcesunattributed · unattributed · unattributed · unattributed
Potential Impact
- 01
Shift in cable ad investments to sports-only, eliminating non-sports cable spending
- 02
Increased primetime exposure for women's championships via Disney, CBS, Scripps deals
- 03
Higher ad engagement for Ally, potentially boosting brand reach among female executives
- 04
Growth in women's sports media coverage through new ESPN showcase and network rights
Transparency Panel
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