Women’s sports are gaining traction in streaming

Women’s sports had a huge year in 2024. New sports leagues launched for women’s volleyball, hockey, and soccer. Ratings for women’s Olympic gymnastics, college volleyball, college basketball, and the WNBA soared. Revenues generated by women’s sports this year will be up 300% over 2021 levels, according to Deloitte.

Brands have put more money toward women’s sports. The E.W. Scripps Company’s chief revenue officer told Adweek that “our commitment to women’s sports” contributed to the company’s growth in upfront TV ad sales. Rather than getting lumped into broader sports packages, like they were in past years, women’s sports became their own line items in upfront deals, according to ad buyers interviewed by Ad Age. Women’s sports have also attracted new advertisers—such as makeup, hair, and fertility brands—that previously did not advertise in sports, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Due to the increased interest in women’s sports, we created our first forecast for women’s live sports viewers. Our forecast is defined as individuals of any age who watch women's live sports content at least once per month over the course of the season of at least one sport. To be clear, we are looking at habitual viewers who continue to watch through a season. We are not looking at total individuals who watched a single women’s sporting event, as that number would be significantly higher and fueled by championship events that crushed ratings.

The number of women’s live sports viewers has grown tremendously. This year, more than double the number of people will watch women’s sports monthly than in 2022. Still, there is much room to grow. Just 2.5% of total live sports viewers will watch women’s sports consistently in 2024, according to our forecast.

Read the full report, US Sports Streaming 2024.