In 2019, US soccer star Alex Morgan knew firsthand that women’s sports weren’t getting the attention they deserved. Few media outlets covered women’s sports and athletes. Alex had seen the success of athlete-founded production companies, like Derek Jeter’s Players’ Tribune or Steph Curry’s Unanimous Media, and decided she wanted to do the same for women’s sports.
That’s when she called journalist Jessica Robertson, whom she met when Jessica worked at the Players’ Tribune. Alex said to Jessica, “I’m tired of waiting for someone else to decide that our stories are worth investing in. Would you come build something with me?”
So Jessica agreed to become a cofounder and chief content officer of Togethxr, a media company dedicated to telling women’s sports stories. The other cofounders included professional athletes from several sports: basketball legend Sue Bird, swimmer Simone Manuel, and snowboarder Chloe Kim. “We know that women in particular, especially female athletes, can really impact culture and change and business,” Jessica says.
Here’s how Togethxr helped build and showcase an emerging market through storytelling, viral merchandise, and strategic partnerships.
Identifying an emerging market
When Togethxr launched in late 2020, only 5% of sports media coverage was dedicated to women’s sports. Jessica and her cofounders believed the problem was twofold. First, women’s sports fans didn’t have easy access to watch games and learn about the athletes’ stories. Second, media companies didn’t cover these sports, because they didn’t believe they could generate enough revenue from the viewership.
“If you can grow the audience and community in the space, drive viewership, put people in seats, then brands will show up to invest because they believe it’s worth their [return on investment],” Jessica says. Togethxr started making documentaries, podcasts, a newsletter, social media posts, and events about women’s sports to raise the visibility of these stories.
Today, women’s sports makes up almost 20% of all sports coverage, and Togethxr has played a significant part in increasing awareness.
Togethxr’s iconic slogan Everyone Watches Women’s Sports™ launched a revolution that is amplifying women’s voices in sports through merchandise and media. Togethxr
Creating an anthem
Part of the opportunity in the women’s sports market was not just creating content, but also creating merchandise. Previously, there weren’t a ton of options out there for women’s sports fans. Most of it was homemade or low-quality.
Togethxr decided to make t-shirts with the slogan “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports,” a sentiment that had emerged after the record-breaking 2023 NCAA Women’s March Madness college basketball tournament. “We wanted to create a unifying anthem for fans and athletes, coaches, celebrities alike,” Jessica says.
The company strategically seeded the t-shirt with one of the most successful women’s basketball coaches of all time, Dawn Staley. When Dawn wore the shirt on an ESPN primetime broadcast game, it sold out on Togethxr’s website within 30 minutes. It has now generated more than $6 million in top-line revenue for the business.
Stretching a viral moment From the start, the team at Togethxr focused on resonance over reach. “Our stories are made to linger,” Jessica explains. “We think, How do we make it sticky? How do we make it live beyond just one moment?” After the “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” shirt went viral, the company continued to build on the campaign and scale its operations to meet demand. Togethxr started working with professional sports teams to customize the shirt in team colors. The company is still exploring ways to center fans in this movement. “The most important word in that phrase is ‘everyone,’” Jessica says. “So how do you continue to reflect back the community that believes this is their anthem, too, beyond just the athletes or celebrities that are wearing it?”
Targeting value-aligned partnerships
“A lot of brands are coming to us because they know they need to get in on women’s sports because it’s good business,” Jessica says. Still, she believes startups need to be discerning and approach collaborations with intentionality, collaborating with brands that are value-aligned.
Jessica is proud of Togethxr’s multi-year partnerships with Nike, Aflac, and other brands. “They want to be thoughtful and get it right because they know that it can have a really lasting impact in a space like this one,” Jessica says.
To learn more about how Togethxr is helping build a growing market, listen to the full interview on the Shopify Masters podcast.
