Overview
From the Matilda's success in the FIFA Women's World Cup to Michelle Payne's historic win at last year's Melbourne Cup, national interest in women's sports is at an all time high – and it looks like the media is finally paying attention. In an awesome development, albeit one that probably should have happened a hell of a lot sooner, Australia is getting its first major website dedicated to women's sports.
Operated by SBS with The World Game host Lucy Zelic at the helm, Zela is being spruiked as an online community, complete with "a strong presence in social media feeds with the latest video, highlights, news and views delivered straight to followers." The site will feature profiles of established and emerging female athletes across a wide array of sporting codes, as well as coverage of the wider sporting world from a female perspective. Zelic and company also plan to establish connections and syndication deals with existing networks and blogs.
The launch was driven in part by the success of SBS's Women's World Cup coverage, which attracted more than 2.6 million viewers. "The Women’s World Cup went so well that we began to explore what else we could do to service women’s sport, a badly neglected area of the current media landscape, especially in the mainstream media," said Zelic.
"With Zela, I hope to lead the way, to prove the audience is out there if you provide them with interesting and engaging content," added editor Danielle Warby.
Visit Zela at www.sbs.com.au/topics/zela. You can also check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.