Visibility key for continued growth of women’s sport – GlobalData

New Zealand’s players celebrate after winning the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup final match between New Zealand and England at Eden Park in Auckland on November 12, 2022. Credit: Michael Bradley/Getty Images.

Ensuring the accessibility of women’s sport for audiences is critical for its continued growth, according to a new report.

GlobalData’s Women in Sport report states that women’s sport is at a “critical juncture” and suggests that the next few years are pivotal for its growth as greater parity with men’s sport is sought. The report notes that investment, marketing, media coverage and pay in women’s sport have all lagged behind those of male sport but that there has been significant recent progress.

“Despite for decades women’s sports having experienced a lack of marketing in comparison to popular and well-established men’s sport, there has been a significant increase in media coverage of women’s sports across multiple platforms including NBC and Fox, whilst traditional sports advertisers are also increasing their investments in women’s sports,” it says.

The report cites 2024 as having been “a huge success for women’s sport.” In particular, it points to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as the first gender-equal Olympics, with an equal number of men and women competing and a more balanced event schedule. Elsewhere, there were efforts to improve parity in pay between men and women’s sport – notably by the England and Wales Cricket Board, the World Surf League and the Professional Squash Association – and media coverage also continued to increase, although it remains disproportionately low.

Looking ahead, meanwhile, GlobalData expects 2025 to be a “landmark year for women’s sport, with a variety of high-profile events across multiple events, including the Women’s Rugby World Cup and the Women’s European Championship.” The previous edition of the latter, hosted in England in 2022, was a watershed moment for women’s soccer, with record attendances and viewership. Other major women’s sporting events during 2025 include The Ashes and the Women’s Cricket World Cup (Cricket), the She Believes Cup (soccer) and EuroBasket Women and the Women’s AmeriCup (basketball).

In addition, global revenues for women’s elite sport are expected to have surpassed $1.3 billion for the first time, Deloitte forecasts.

“Rapidly increasing attendances and television viewing figures across different sports, alongside more lucrative commercial and broadcast deals, is predicted to cause the global revenue for women’s sport to soar,” the report states. “Commercial revenue contributed 55% of [the total in 2024], which is then supported by broadcast deals and matchday income. 2024 was the biggest year for women’s sport yet, with 2025 expected to be even bigger in terms of market growth and revenue.”

Despite this, it is noted that continuing to close the gap between men’s and women’s sports can only happen by making women’s sports accessible to a wider audience.

Of what is required on this front, the report says: “This move has worked well for women’s soccer, with many of the biggest tournaments and leagues being broadcast on free-to-air platforms, increasing their visibility among sports fans.”

It adds: “An October 2023 study conducted by The Collective, Wasserman’s women-focused practice, found that women’s sports now comprise 15% of total sports media coverage, which can be partly attributed to the growth of streaming and social media. This figure will increase year on year, with women’s sport attracting a greater fanbase. However, 15% is still a notably low figure and there is still a major discrepancy between the media coverage which male sport receives compared to female sport.”

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