In the UK, major international women’s sporting events, such as the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the Solheim Cup (golf) and English cricket, continue to attract increasingly larger crowds, in contrast to declining numbers in women’s domestic competitions.
From January 1 to October 22, 2023, spectators watched, on average, nearly ten hours of competitions. The Solheim Cup reached a new milestone with 9.5 million viewing hours in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 6.3 million in 2021, and also achieved the highest average live audience for a women’s sporting event on pay TV.
England’s women’s cricketers also achieved record viewing figures for the English summer, with 7.4 million watching for three minutes or more, surpassing the previous record of 6.2 million. The Women’s World Rugby Championship between the Red Roses and Canada garnered 234,000 online views on Facebook and YouTube despite not being shown by broadcasters.
Women’s Hundred’s average viewership in 2023 is down 15.5% since the inaugural season, but hours watched are up 14.2% year over year.
This increase in major women’s sporting events is very significant, however, the 20.5% drop in average audience year on year for the WSL on Sky shows that there is still a long way to go for women’s sports broadcasting which does not have that much Of appeal.
