The WSL is the main driving force for the increased viewing time in women’s sports with 16m unique users. In 2022, 37.6 million people watched domestic women’s sport, breaking the previous record of 32.9 million set in 2021. Last season, Chelsea won the WSL for the third straight year, although rivals Arsenal and Manchester City, as well as a host of other well-known players, have all contributed to the league’s increasing success. According to a recent study released by the Women’s Sport Trust with broadcast expertise from Futures Sport & Entertainment, the average amount of time each individual spent watching women’s sports on TV in the UK increased year over year by 131 percent in 2022. In 2022, the average viewer viewed eight hours and 44 minutes of women’s sports, compared to three hours and 47 minutes in the previous visibility report.
In contrast to 7.6 million in 2021, 21.7 million people watched TV for two hours or more, with 46% of them being female. When watching data were adjusted for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the numbers were also higher than the 20.2 million viewers in 2019. Less than a seventh of sports coverage hours on major UK TV channels are still allocated to women’s sports, and in 2022, both TV sports news and print media gave women’s sports even less attention.
“While traditionally the emphasis has been on making sure that women’s sport is visible in broadcast, which is still very essential, we need to maintain and grow the amount of time that fans spend watching women’s sports content in order to secure the commercial viability of women’s sport,” Tammy Parlour said about the contribution of the WSL to women’s sport. “The fact that 21.7 million TV viewers watched more than two hours of women’s sports in 2022, up from 7.6 million in 2021, is evidence of our premise that if you make women’s sports visible, viewership will follow. Time spent with women’s sports has increased by 131 percent year over year. Women’s sports only make up 13 percent of coverage hours, but they account for 15 percent of all sports viewing hours on major channels, up from 10 percent in 2021. A unique audience for women’s sports has emerged, with 1.8 million people tuning in to the Women’s Euros yet missing any action from the FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar.”
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