Gavin Johnson, media director at City Football Group, speaks to the Broadcast Sport Podcast

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The difference between producing men’s and women’s football content is overblown, according to City Football Group media director Gavin Johnson. 

Speaking in the latest episode of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, Johnson said, “The core principles of trying to tell human stories and really understanding who these players are, are exactly the same on the men’s and the women’s sides. 

“These are top athletes on both sides who dedicate their lives to trying to win. It’s our job to capture that but they’re also human beings who’ve got back stories and passions. 

“I think it’s a total myth that it’s this big thing you have to do differently. Ultimately our job as content creators is to tell human stories and everyone’s different. Just because someone’s a left back on the men’s or women’s doesn’t mean they don’t have the same interests.”

You can listen to the full episode, where Johnson also talks about covering the Manchester City women’s team’s WSL and FA Cup victories, how they planned for Pep Guardiola’s departure from the men’s side, the content opportunities for clubs during the World Cup, and plenty more, below. 

In terms of those following their men’s and women’s sides, Johnson finds that at City there are a wide range of supporters: “There are a lot of fans who just love Manchester City and they follow both teams, but we do find quite a distinct audience as well. Partly because the games clash and you can’t consume both at the same time. 

“We have a real hardcore passion for the women’s team. It’s obviously growing quickly, the crowds are going up at the Joie Stadium, and audience numbers are going up on our content. 

He added, “There’s a lot of fans who just follow the men’s or just the women’s and that’s cool, we’ve got busy lives and can’t always devote enough time to one or the other It’s still a work in progress with really understanding those audiences, particularly because they’re both growing, but sometimes we bring the two teams together. 

“Last summer we did City Are Back, which is a joint open training session with the men’s and women’s and that was really well received. So, sometimes we bring the team together and do things like that and sometimes, just by the necessity of training schedules, we do different things.” 

You can listen to the whole episode below, as well as all other episodes of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, which is available on all major podcast platforms.