Image Credit SI
At the recently held Manifest Play 2026 in Mumbai, the conversation around women’s sport in India moved beyond awareness to a more pressing question: how does the ecosystem build scale, monetisation, and long-term sustainability?
As the event’s Fan Engagement Partner, SI (formerly Sportz Interactive) anchored this shift by hosting a panel on “How women’s sports in India can monetise faster by investing in digital first.” Moderated by Chintan Shah, SVP – India at SI, the discussion brought together perspectives from media, brands, athlete management, performance science, and broadcast platforms.
The central theme was clear: growth in women’s sport will not be linear or broadcast-led. It will be built through digital ecosystems, consistent storytelling, and more personalised athlete and fan engagement.
Owning the audience
Vishal Yadav (Founder & CEO, Female Cricket & Female In Sports) highlighted how a digital-first approach fundamentally changes the fan relationship. Rather than building reach first and monetising later, digital platforms enable:
- Direct audience engagement
- Real-time feedback shaping content
- Ownership of distribution and pricing
This shifts brand conversations from impressions to integration, with partners aligning to stories rather than buying inventory. The takeaway is clear: owning the audience is now central to monetisation.
The shift from visibility to value
From a brand lens, Toranj Mehta (VP – Marketing, De Beers India) noted that partnerships in women’s sport are increasingly driven by alignment rather than exposure. Athletes today represent more than performance. Their identity, personality, and resilience create stronger storytelling opportunities, amplified by digital platforms.
This evolution means:
- Partnerships are narrative-led
- Athlete identity matters as much as performance
- Digital presence helps amplify athlete personality and strengthen brand fit
Women athletes are no longer niche properties but culturally relevant ambassadors.
The rise of the multi-dimensional athlete
Namrata Parekh (Co-founder & Director, Meraki Sports & Entertainment) framed this through the “three Ps”: Performance, Personality, and Purpose.
While performance drives discovery, personality and purpose sustain engagement. In a digital-first world, athletes are also creators and communities, building direct fan relationships through content. For brands, this creates a more nuanced ROI equation, balancing reach with authenticity and long-term storytelling.
The missing layer: athlete support
Despite growing momentum, gaps remain in athlete support systems. Krushmi Chheda (Founder, CORE) pointed to limitations in sports science, recovery, and long-term performance planning.
Key challenges include:
- Limited access to personalised training and recovery
- Shorter career spans due to lack of preventive support
- Inconsistent investment in nutrition and infrastructure
The implication is clear: performance longevity directly impacts commercial value.
Consistency as a growth driver
At the grassroots level, Shubhangi Gupta (Co-founder, SportVot) emphasised the importance of consistency. Her experience showed that:
- Regular digital coverage builds familiarity
- Data capture enables future monetisation
- Niche audiences can become commercially viable over time
Rather than chasing scale, sustained visibility builds both player recognition and league value. As Chintan Shah noted, relationships are becoming the new currency, built through consistent digital interaction.
From insight to action
The panel outlined a clear roadmap for women’s sport in India:
- Build and own digital ecosystems
- Invest in consistent storytelling
- Develop athletes as multi-dimensional brands
- Strengthen grassroots visibility through streaming
- Improve long-term athlete support systems
SI’s role in convening these perspectives reflects a broader shift towards integrated, digital-first growth strategies. Women’s sport in India is already entering a new phase — one defined by structure, strategy, and commercial intent, where the focus is on turning attention into sustained engagement and long-term value.
This shift is evident in how new leagues are being built. The Women’s Premier League, for instance, showed how a digital-first ecosystem can drive early engagement and commercial outcomes from day one. For SI, this reinforces a core belief: when digital infrastructure is treated as the foundation, women’s sport can scale faster and more efficiently from the outset.
About SI
SI (formerly Sportz Interactive) is the leading sports technology partner for leagues, teams, federations, broadcasters, and media companies worldwide. With 24 years of engineering pedigree, SI specialises in creating scalable, enterprise-grade digital products that turn fan engagement into measurable commercial value. SI works with world-renowned sporting organisations, leagues, and franchises – including the NBA, ICC, UFC, FIBA, BCCI, leading IPL teams, World Archery, and global technology and media brands such as Google, Amazon Prime Video, and more.
Through FanOS: The Fan Engagement Operating System for Sports Organisations, SI provides a portfolio of productised solutions built specifically for the sports industry, through a suite of flexible, independent modules across Data, Experiences, and Activations that are designed to run as a complete ecosystem, or seamlessly plug into existing workflows.
SI doesn’t just build fan experiences; we ensure sports organisations operate like scalable, data-integrated enterprises pioneering the future of sports fandom.
For more information, please visit sportzinteractive.net/fanos and follow SI on LinkedIn.
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