Big Food keeps buying wellness brands, women’s sports are becoming a media powerhouse, and Gen Z is rethinking what it means to go out.
Big Food buys into wellness
Ferrero Group is acquiring Purely Elizabeth, the modern wellness food brand known for its granola, oatmeal, cereals, and newer protein products.
- Founded in 2009, Purely Elizabeth has more than doubled sales over the past two years as it expanded beyond its core granola business and into new functional and better-for-you categories.
- The deal follows Ferrero’s $3.1B acquisition of WK Kellogg, giving the Italian food giant a much larger foothold in the American breakfast aisle.
Purely Elizabeth will continue operating as a standalone brand, with founder and CEO Elizabeth Stein staying on to lead the business.
Women’s sports are big business
Americans watched 28.6B minutes of women’s sports in the first half of 2026, up 18% from the same period last year, according to Nielsen. That audience now extends to 122.5M Americans, or more than half of the US population.
The commercial opportunity is growing alongside the audience:
- Advertising spend on women’s sports is up 120% since 2022, while sponsor valuations have jumped 71% for the WNBA, 82% for the NWSL, and 51% for the LPGA.
- Beyond women’s sports, female viewership of the NBA is up 55% since 2024, while NHL viewership among women has grown 44%.
Of the estimated 16M new sports fans, over half are women, sparking a new playbook for brands to capture an entire demographic.
Gen Z is staying home
A new Harris Poll of more than 4,100 U.S. adults found that 74% of Gen Z spend at least half their weekends at home, and 73% say staying in has become their default weekend plan.
But this isn’t simply a generation opting out of social life.
- Half of Gen Z report feeling lonely on a typical weekend, and 49% say they don’t have enough friends to spend time with in person.
- Meanwhile, 65% say they feel more socially connected in wellness-focused settings than traditional nightlife.
The opportunity isn’t getting Gen Z back into bars. It’s giving them fitness classes, outdoor activities, and other low-key experiences that deliver connection without the cost, exhaustion, or social pressure.
