Footballco study finds platform is the most popular place for supporters to get content

Barcelona women's football Getty

A Footballco study into women’s football fandom has found that YouTube is the most popular social media platform for supporters to find their content.

48% of the 2,291 respondents revealed that they go to YouTube for women’s football content, ahead of 42% each for Facebook and Instagram, and 37% for TikTok. Other platforms named included Twitter (35%), WhatsApp (31%), Snapchat (29%), Twitch (27%), Pinterest (27%), and Telegram (26%). 

However, the study also showed that the situation was slightly different for women aged 18-24, which had Instagram leading on 55% ahead of 51% for TikTok and 49% for YouTube.

YouTube may benefit from DAZN’s Women’s Champions League coverage, which is shown for free through its YouTube channel. It was revealed last month that over 20 million tuned into the Group Stages on YouTube this year, an increase of six million on the 2021/22 season. The broadcaster also has over 300 pieces of non-live content on its channel, and added four new series for this campaign.

Respondents for the study came from the UK, Germany, Netherlands, USA, Brazil, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.

Outside of social platforms, the study also found that women’s football fans want content such as live games, match highlights and breaking news the most. Again Gen Z was slightly different, with memes, live games and inspirational stories top for them. It also split the fandom into superfans, supporters, and casuals, finding that women’s football needs to work on converting casual viewers into more dedicated followers.

Morgan Brennan, head of Indivisa, Footballco’s women’s football media brand, said: “What we’re seeing here is the importance of a connection to players for fans of women’s football.

“Brands can and in some cases already are recognising that working with female players should go beyond them holding or endorsing a product, the brand and the content around it should provide a story that fans can relate to and if possible connect to a cause that’s relevant to players and fans.

“This point was demonstrated in the report, with 56 per cent of fans saying that would think more favourably about brands that sponsor their favourite female players, increasing to 76 per cent with Superfans.”

The full report can be found here.