Morgan Stanley further invests in women’s tennis with Serena Williams docuseries

The GIST: Today, ESPN will debut In The Arena: Serena Williams, an intimate behind-the-scenes docuseries reviewing the biggest moments of the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion’s career. As just the second athlete to headline the award-winning project —Tom Brady’s Man in the Arena won a 2022 Sports Emmy — Williams is (yet again) in rare company. Always on top of her game.

The series: Williams announced the doc last year, solidifying In The Arena as a (gender-inclusive) franchise expansion. Unlike Brady’s series, which was filmed during his NFL tenure, this second edition instead offers a career retrospective — complete with commentary from both Williams herself and those closest to her.

• The team, however, is virtually the same as the Brady series: It’s directed by Gotham Chopra and co-produced by ESPN, Religion of Sports, and Tom Brady’s 199 Productions, with Williams and Caroline Currier’s Nine Two Six Productions joining the fold, of course.

The rollout: Presenting sponsor Morgan Stanley worked with Disney Advertising to develop a cross-channel sponsorship that includes in-show branding on streaming and linear, voiceover promotions in ESPN studio shows, and plenty of exposure across other ESPN platforms.

• The investment bank is also taking things IRL: After the series’ June 13th debut at the Tribeca Film Festival, it plans on hosting other events centered around the new doc.

The sponsor: Morgan Stanley is a dedicated player in the sports space. The company has sponsored the PGA’s Players Championship since 2017 and LPGA golfer Cheyenne Woods has been a brand ambassador since 2018. And 10 years ago, it expanded its wealth management offerings with Global Sports & Entertainment, an entire arm catering to wealthy clients in these industries.

• Of late, the multinational bank has doubled down on its WTA sponsorship by boosting financial literacy for athletes. Plus, they added Canadian tennis phenom Leylah Annie Fernandez as a brand ambassador in 2022.

• When asked about Morgan Stanley’s focus on and increasing sponsorship of women’s tennis, CMO Alice Milligan told The GIST that the bank has “really challenged [itself] from a marketing perspective to widen the aperture of who [it’s] speaking to… And so, [it’s] really set out to change [that] game”.

Zooming out: Sports docuseries are the next big thing — just ask Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, who’s co-launching an NWSL reality series this summer. And with women’s sports being the next BFD, it’s no wonder producers and filmmakers are zooming in: Deloitte predicts that women’s elite sports will surpass $1B in global revenue this year.

• Just like Netflix’s Break Point, Full Swing, and Formula 1: Drive to Survive have spurred wider interest in each spotlighted sport, women’s sports docuseries — the coverage fans are hungry for — are prime opportunities for brands to reap the rewards of the growing women’s game by getting in on the action.