Women’s sport continued its record-breaking trajectory in 2025, setting new milestones for both audience reach and coverage in the UK. The latest Women’s Sport Trust Visibility Report shows that visibility grew across broadcast, streaming and digital platforms, driven not only by major international tournaments but by a wider, more consistent presence across the UK media landscape.
According to the report More Than a Moment, featuring broadcast analysis from GSIQ, coverage hours across free-to-air and pay-TV in the UK exceeded 10,000 hours for the first time ever in 2025. This delivered a record 397 million viewing hours, surpassing the previous high of 384 million in 2023. With Sky Sports delivering 69% of total coverage hours and free-to-air broadcasters generating 79% of total viewing hours, this highlights not only the commitment but the complementary roles of pay-TV in providing volume and free-to-air in delivering scale.
The standout moment in 2025 was the UEFA Women’s EURO final, which was the most-watched UK broadcast moment of the year across all television programming, drawing a peak audience of 16.22 million across BBC and ITV. Overall, 48 million viewers tuned in to women’s sport, up from 45.2 million in 2024, making it the most-watched year on record.
Beyond peak moments, the data highlights women’s sport continuing to punch above its weight in prime-time viewing. Despite accounting for 8% of prime-time sports coverage in 2025 (up from 6% in 2024), women’s sport generated 13% of total prime-time sports viewer hours on key channels, demonstrating strong audience conversion relative to available exposure.
Evolving women’s sport audience behaviours
Whilst global tournaments were key contributors to this broadcast record, when excluding them, domestic women’s sport delivered its second-most watched year (40 million), signalling that women’s sport is building a more resilient foundation of regular, year-round interest.
Audience shifts were also notable. Female viewership reached a new high of 41% of UK broadcast audiences across women’s sport, rising to 44% for the UEFA Women’s EURO and 43% for the Rugby World Cup (RWC) and increasing again for both finals.
Viewing patterns showed a deepening crossover between men’s and women’s sport. A higher proportion of audiences watched both men’s and women’s competitions than in 2024, with 55% of Barclays Women’s Super League (BWSL) 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%). This trend suggests women’s sport is increasingly being consumed as part of broader sports viewing habits rather than as a standalone interest.
Beyond broadcast: The digital shift in women’s sport
Outside of traditional linear TV, social media strengthened its position as a critical visibility driver. The top 10 global women’s sports leagues and properties saw stronger year‑on‑year growth in video views than the equivalent top 10 men’s properties. The WNBA was the most‑viewed global women’s league/property on Instagram (1 billion views), with WTA top for YouTube (185 million views) and UEFA Women’s Football leading on TikTok (567 million views).
Domestically, Arsenal Women recorded the highest Instagram video views of any global women’s club in 2025 (336 million). While several factors contributed, their one‑club approach has been central to this rise.
Athletes themselves continue to boost visibility, using social media to deepen connection beyond the field of play. Chloe Kelly emerged as the top British female athlete on both Instagram and TikTok, with 6.8 million Instagram engagements and 52 million TikTok views in 2025. Overall, 12 of the top 20 British female athletes for Instagram engagement featured in either the Women’s EURO or RWC.
Following the RWC, Red Roses players saw a significant uplift in video views, including on Instagram, where Sarah Bern’s video addressing body image reached 8.7 million views in November 2025. A clear example of athlete‑led storytelling driving awareness, relevance and engagement.
From big moments to lasting momentum
With two major tournaments in quick succession, both Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) and BWSL, looked to capitalise on increased visibility of their players over the summer.
PWR, a league still in the early stages of growth, have carried significant momentum into the start of the 2025/26 season, with total broadcast audiences increasing by +275% to 321.6k, record league viewership, strong growth in digital engagement, and attendances rising by +93% across the opening rounds.
Meanwhile, the BWSL, operating from a larger and more established base, 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. Alongside this, club and league digital engagement also rose significantly.
Tammy Parlour, WST 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.”