46.7m tuned into women’s sport in 2023

46.7 million UK viewers tuned into at least one minute of women’s sport during 2023, according to the latest research from the Women’s Sport Trust.

This is over one million more than the previous record, set in 2019. In addition, the average viewing time increased by 16% year-on-year, to to 10 hours and seven minutes per person. For social media, TikTok drove the biggest growth in video views, with the WSL experiencing a 268% year-on-year increase to 150m views. This was higher than the NWSL and WNBA league accounts making the WSL the leading domestic women’s league on TikTok.

In addition, the formerly TikTok-sponsored Women’s Six Nations saw a 586% annual increase in views.

Meanwhile there were 25.7m streams of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 on BBC iPlayer and 15.6m streams on ITVX. On BBC iPlayer, this is a 75% increase on the Women’s World Cup 2019. Overall, 15.6 million people watched the Women’s World Cup 2023 who didn’t watch women’s sport before the tournament, and 43% of these new viewers went onto watch women’s sport after the tournament: 33% watched the WSL, 12% watched the Solheim Cup and 9% watched The Hundred.

Sky Sports and the BBC reported record viewing figures for their WSL coverage last year, with viewership for the Solheim Cup also breaking records on Sky Sports.

The viewership research was completed with data and analysis from Futures Sport & Entertainment, with additional data from Two Circles showing a new high of 2.6 million people attended a women’s sport event in 2023 compared to 2.1 million in 2022.

Tammy Parlour, CEO and co-founder of Women’s Sport Trust, said: “This report points to unprecedented streaming numbers across digital alongside record video consumption for leading women’s sports competitions on social media channels. The industry needs to capitalise on these opportunities to drive further awareness and engagement, so we can continue to broaden the audience for women’s sports, and reach the fans where they are.”