Women’s sport in the UK, excluding global tournaments, achieved its highest viewership level ever in 2024, according to Women’s Sport Trust data.
An impressive 44.7 million viewers tuned in to watch women’s sport in 2024. This figure excludes viewership of global tournaments and surpasses the previous record of 37.6 million in 2022, according to the latest report from Women’s Sport Trust.
However, the lack of tournaments for England’s Lionesses impacted overall viewing figures, which saw a drop from 386 million hours in 2023 to 164 million last year. The average viewing time for each viewer more than halved from 10 hours and seven minutes in 2023 to five hours and 47 minutes last year.
The last time the England Women’s football team didn’t compete in a major tournament was 2021, and the data suggests a positive uptick in average viewing time, as 2024’s viewing figures were still two hours up on four years ago.
“From a visibility perspective, 2024 was set to be an intriguing year, with the Lionesses — who had already captured the nation’s attention — not competing in a major international football tournament,” says Tammy Parlour, CEO at Women’s Sport Trust.Is an inability to understand audiences holding back women’s sport?
“The numbers show some strong results which should inspire confidence in brands thinking about investing in women’s sport,” she adds.
Brands shouldn’t understate the importance of partnering with both individual female athletes and clubs, suggests Parlour.
In 2024, 35% of total social media engagement with the Women’s Super League came through individual player accounts, compared with 27% in the Premier League.
“Our December report into brand decision making showed that 73% of the brands we interviewed said they were likely or somewhat likely to invest in individual female athletes making it the lead opportunity overall. We would hope to see more brands invest in this untapped opportunity and take advantage of their growing profiles,” Parlour tells Marketing Week.
The data is clear that “brands have an opportunity to really impact women’s sport and increase its visibility through their activation,” says Parlour.
