Sky Sports’ Halo took ‘test and learn’ too far, but shutting it down wasn’t the answer 

In an inevitable – but disappointing – turn of events, Sky Sports has pulled its younger female fan-focused TikTok channel, Halo, after just three days.  

When a press release landed in my inbox Wednesday evening announcing Halo as Sky Sports’ “little sister”, I sighed, closed my laptop and waited with bated breath.  

The posts Halo managed before being pulled were bizarre. They all included neon pink font. One that went down particularly poorly was a video of Manchester City Men’s striker Erling Haaland with the text: “How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits”.

The reaction was predictable. Angry. Disappointed. Patronised. Questioning. And rightly so. Halo was a demonstration of all the things not to do with women’s sport marketing.

The channel came from a business that usually gets it right, recognising the opportunity to engage female fans and amplify women’s sport on social media is huge.

Women’s sport properties on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube have leapt up in engagement in the last year, according to the latest report from the Women’s Sport Trust. UEFA Women’s Football on TikTok has grown 517%, National Women’s Soccer League is up 229% and Women’s National Basketball Association up 12%.  

If Sky Sports had got this right, there’s a captive audience. 

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Halo wasn’t targeting many of the people already in the women’s sport world, but instead aimed at engaging young girls who might not be into sport yet. The channel was well intentioned, but Sky Sports got both the launch and closure wrong. 

The broadcaster described Halo as a channel providing an “inclusive, dedicated platform for women to enjoy and explore content from all sports, while amplifying female voices and perspectives”.  

The launch video included clips of female and male athletes. While aimed at young women, Halo was not focused solely on women’s sport. In fact, Sky Sports wasn’t syphoning off all its women’s sport content onto a separate TikTok account as some critics have suggested. 

Tonally, the failure of Halo is an example of a brand not reading the room. Underneath one post, a fan commented: “Can’t believe this is what you think female sports fans like”. The account responded: “Can’t believe you brought that kind of energy”.  

In its statement shutting down the account, Sky Sports explained its intention was to “create a space” alongside its existing social channels for “new, young, female fans”.

“We’ve listened. We didn’t get it right. As a result we’re stopping all activity on this account. We’re learning and remain as committed as ever to creating spaces where fans feel included and inspired,” the broadcaster added. 

Test, then learn

We talk a lot about test and learn mindsets; it’s a crucial part of marketing. Few brands get anything right on first try, these things take time and in women’s sport, many brands and broadcasters are only just beginning to grapple with the scale of the opportunity.  

The failure of Halo to resonate with fans is a symptom of doing the testing and learning too publicly.  

Female stereotypes are boring and uncreative. While this isn’t the space for a digest on what stage of feminism we’re at, and whether wearing pink and calling ourselves ‘girlies’ is pushing against the patriarchy or leaning into it, I’d have thought it fairly clear this creative approach wouldn’t go down well.  

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However, the backlash was an opportunity to iterate and double down on Sky’s investment in women’s sport and the targeting of new fans.  

The initial execution was poor and the girliepopsification of women’s sport isn’t something any fan wants. But we do want businesses to commit to investing in women’s sport platforms.  

In an article for Marketing Week earlier this year, Laura Weston and Julies Hiles, the founders of women’s sport consultancy See You at Jeanie’s explained brands need to tackle their women’s sport creative barrier.  

“One of the biggest barriers that we hear whispered quietly by marketers is that brands know they should be doing more in women’s sport, but don’t know where to start. They are afraid to say the wrong thing. There’s no shame in that; it’s an emerging industry that is moving fast. But brands must act to not miss this once in a generation opportunity,” they said.  

There is a big space for platforms championing women’s sport and building engaging, creative and exciting brands that resonate – She’s a Baller, MISS KICK, Aerial, The Cutback to name just a handful. 

With Halo, Sky Sports made a swing when other legacy companies are still too worried about getting it wrong to try and get it right.  

Missing the mark

Many have spoken online in the last few days about how patronising it is to women to call the platform Sky Sports’ “little sister” and lean on female stereotypes. That is one of the main issues with Halo, but there is more to it.  

Women’s football is the most popular women’s sport, as it is for the men’s game. Other sports are growing in prominence and need amplification.  

On TikTok, Sky Sports already has a WSL-specific account with more than 382,000 followers. The business knows there’s an audience for women’s football and caters to it.  

The backlash was an opportunity to iterate and double down on Sky’s investment in women’s sport and the targeting of new fans.

Other women’s sports, like netball, rugby, golf, need more investment and support from broadcasters and brands. Halo was scheduled to livestream Sunday’s England versus New Zealand netball match, which would have been a positive way to increase eyeballs on a sport that deserves more attention. However, you could question why Sky couldn’t livestream the game on its main platforms.  

There’s a clear space for a brand like Halo to target younger female fans at an accessible entry point. It was well intentioned, but badly executed.  

Female sports fans deserve their own platforms, but also respect from established ones. A broadcaster like Sky Sports has a responsibility to not make female athletes and fans feel like second-best, outsiders to the world of sport.  

Perhaps the time and resource spent on Halo would have paid off had Sky Sports partnered with or invested in one of the existing women’s sport platforms, or carried out a bit more audience research. 

To see it pulled so quickly – even if it went down badly – is poor. It should have iterated. I hope Sky Sports learns its lesson and bounces back with a different execution.