The Fastest-Growing Audiences On TV Are For Women’s Sports

At a time when viewership for live TV is shrinking, there’s one notable growth area: women’s sports.

Long an afterthought to men’s sports, women’s sports have seen huge gains in viewership in recent years, albeit from very small bases. While no women’s sports outside of Olympic gymnastics or ice skating can compete with men’s for ratings, interest in them is clearly on the rise—and could represent an important growth area for advertisers.

That’s according to a new report released this month by Samba TV, an audience analytics company. It noted remarkable viewership gains for the WNBA, National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and the women’s NCAA tournament this year.

All three outpaced growth by their comparative male equivalents. And all seem poised for breakout sponsorship and advertising deals based on impressive engagement among an audience marketers are eager to reach, Generation Z.

The report found that viewership for all rounds of women’s March Madness ballooned by 81% compared to 18% growth for the men’s NCAA tourney. Men’s viewership average still soared well above women’s, but Samba notes that top brands including Nissan, Geico and Capital One reached more than 6 million households during the women’s tournament.

The WNBA finals saw a huge 171% surge in viewership for Game 1, to 1.1 million households. That compared favorable to the men’s Game 1’s 25% jump in viewership, though again the men drew way more viewers.

And the NWSL, coming from the smallest base, saw the biggest gain for its championship game, up an astonishing 453% year over year. It undoubtedly (and unfortunately) was likely helped by headlines all year detailing scandals in the league, but still, that pushed viewership to a pace well ahead of men’s soccer’s growth—the MLS Cup grew 15%.

Notes the report, “Women’s sports are drawing in younger, more affluent viewers from every corner of the nation.” Indeed, 39% of Gen Z sports fans say they’re watching more women’s sports than they were a year ago.

So why the sudden interest in women’s sports, after years of being (again, unfortunately) ignored? It’s likely a combination of factors.

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of Title IX, which leveled the playing field for women in high school and college sports. More women playing sports has sparked more women to become sports fans, and they want to watch the things they competed in, like soccer and basketball.

While men’s sports continue to dominate the traditional sports pages, people also have more choices now for where to get their sporting news. Traditional brands like Sports Illustrated now compete for clicks online, and verticals such as The Athletic give much more exposure to women’s sports. Blogs and newsletters that focus on women, like Lindsay Gibbs’ Power Plays and Alison Wade’s Fast Women, give the same intense focus to women’s sports that has always been given to men.

And the athletes themselves have also become celebrities. The WNBA players’ activism against racism, for instance, has drawn in new fans and followers.