Women’s sport hits 10,000 hours of annual linear coverage

Women’s sport hit over 10,000 hours of annual linear coverage in the UK for the first time in 2025.

This resulted in 397 million viewing hours, beating the last high of 384 million in 2023 - according to the latest Women’s Sport Trust Visibility Report. 79% of these viewing hours were through free-to-air channels, even though Sky Sports was responsible for 69% of the coverage hours.

Over 48 million individuals are reported to have watched women’s sport in 2025, the highest yet after the 45.2 million who watched in 2024. 

The standout moment was the Women’s Euros final, when 16.2 million tuned in across the BBC and ITV to watch England defeat Spain. Overall, women’s sport was shown to punch above its weight, generating 13% of total prime-time sports viewer hours on key channels despite being only 8% of prime-time sports coverage in 2025 (up from 6% in 2024). 

Female viewership reached a new high of 41% of UK broadcast audiences across women’s sport, rising to 44% for the Women’s Euros and 43% for the Rugby World Cup and increasing again for both finals. In addition, a higher proportion of audiences watched both men’s and women’s competitions than in 2024, with 55% of Women’s Super League viewers also watching the Premier League (up from 43%), 78% of Women’s Six Nations viewers also watching the Men’s Six Nations (+6%), and 87% of Women’s Hundred viewers also watching the Men’s Hundred (+9%).

There was also success in converting major tournament viewers into regular season viewers, with total broadcast audiences for Premiership Women’s Rugby increasing by 275% to 321.6k. 

Meanwhile, the WSL saw continued broadcast growth under its new rights agreement. Sky Sports delivered a 4% increase in reach to 3.98 million and a 30% rise in viewing hours to 5.71 million for the first half of the 2025/26 season. 

Tammy Parlour, Women’s Sport Trust CEO, said: “Big tournaments remind us what’s possible for women’s sport, but major-event visibility alone isn’t the finish line.

“While reach is at record levels, depth of engagement and consistent domestic viewing still lag behind peak years, underlining the need to convert this major-event attention into regular habits.

“The evidence shows growth comes when the system works together, with consistent coverage, smart scheduling, clear signposting between major moments and domestic competitions, and content that engages different audiences.

“Previous WST research also shows there is a clear commercial opportunity. Around 30% of consumers (16.4 million people) think more favourably of companies that sponsor women’s sport, compared to 20% for men’s sport, and almost 10 million consumers say they are more likely to buy from brands that invest in women’s sport – a figure that continues to grow year-on-year.

“Women’s sport has been delivering real brand impact even when audiences were smaller. With visibility continuing to increase, that commercial case is becoming stronger than ever.”