Report: Women’s Sports Viewership is On the Rise; Where Can You Watch the FIFA World Cup, WNBA All-Star Game?

For decades, women’s sports were a mere afterthought in the sports broadcasting world. Women’s sports could never attract the same audience as men, so why should broadcasters spend time and money showing and analyzing sports events that no one wanted to watch?

New data from Nielsen is demonstrating just how faulty an argument this is. The data shows that interest in women’s sports is growing at a staggering rate; this year’s Women’s March Madness final between Iowa and LSU drew nearly 10 million viewers, a 103% increase over the 2022 final. But what can this growing fascination with women’s sports be attributed to?

Giving people access to women’s sports on TV is a good start. The BBC only showed eight matches of the 2017 UEFA Women’s Euro on main broadcast channels. They bumped that number to 26 in 2022 and saw a huge increase in the number of viewers, nearly tripling their total audience. By placing games on accessible channels, and using an integrated marketing campaign of TV and out-of-home advertisements, BBC was able to grow its women’s soccer audience by a big margin.

The excitement is carrying over for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as well. The tournament starts July 20, and Nielsen’s data indicates that nearly 80% of the general population is aware of it, which is a record high. The rate of excitement among the general public for the World Cup has surged from 34% in 2019, when it was last held, to 41% ahead of this year’s tournament.

This year’s Women’s World Cup will be broadcast domestically on Fox and FS1 in English, and Telemundo in Spanish. There are five live TV streaming services that will carry the World Cup in English: DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. Four of these carriers also offer Telemundo, and World Cup games will be streamed live on Peacock in Spanish.

It’s not just soccer that’s driving big ratings for women’s sports across the globe. The 2023 WNBA Draft audience increased by 42% between 2022 and 2023, and the WNBA All-Star game is coming up this Saturday, July 15 from Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. Viewers will be able to watch stars like A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Brittney Griner battle it out live on ABC, which is available on most live TV providers.

There will soon be more women’s sports available on ESPN platforms, as well. Last spring, ESPN agreed to a multi-year deal with Athletes Unlimited, a women’s league featuring multiple sports such as lacrosse and softball. At least 90 Athletes Unlimited events will be televised on linear networks over the two years of the deal, including 34 on ESPN or ESPN2 and 56 on ESPNU. The remaining games will be available to stream on ESPN+.