Women’s football exploded in England

The fans at United Kingdom They spend more time than watching football games. Women’s Super League (WSL), and the audience for women’s sports is growing, the analysis by the ‘Women’s Sport Trust and Futures Sport & Entertainment’ revealed on Thursday. The WSL recorded a record average audience of 40 minutes per match in the 2023-24 season, an 11% year-on-year increase, according to figures from the Women’s Sport Trust.

Sky Television audiences watched an average of 43 minutes per match (up 26% year-on-year) and BBC One audiences watched an average of 47 minutes (up 18% and the highest of all broadcasters ).

WSL teams also had more exposure with Chelsea having the biggest broadcast reach, with 18 of their 22 league matches broadcast during the season and reaching 17.5 million viewers. The WSL champions were followed by Manchester City with 15.8 million viewers and Arsenal with 15.4 million.

Football, rugby and cricket have the largest audiences

A record 22.6 million people watched more than three minutes of women’s sports between January and May 2024, surpassing the previous record of 22.0 million in the same period in 2023. Football, rugby and cricket all had bigger audience. The Women’s Rugby Six Nations broadcast had a record 8.1 million viewers for three minutes or more, an increase of 33% on 2023.

“Fans have more information and choice than ever before and women’s sport has to compete with wider entertainment properties for visibility and cultural relevance,” said Women’s Sport Trust chief executive Tammy Parlor.

“While the success of a country, team or player plays a big role in keeping fans interested, the industry needs to continue to generate interest by increasing popularity, cross-promotion and adapting marketing to attract the unique nature of different fan behavior in women’s football.