UK women’s sport fans spike in less than a year thanks to broadcasters mainstreaming efforts

Broadcasters’ mainstreaming of women’s sport in the UK has led to a massive spike in fan numbers in less than one year.

Women’s sport in Great Britain has attracted an estimated four million more fans in the past year, according to two YouGov studies sponsored by BBC Sport, carried out in October 2021 and August 2022.

The studies showed that 41.5% of respondents, the equivalent of more than 22 million adults in the UK, now identify as fans of women’s sport, including big fans, main event supporters and casual followers.

The results highlight the growth as well as the opportunity to increase the number of women’s sports fans further, with 14 million people saying they were open to becoming women’s sport fans.

BBC Sport commissioned two studies, carried out by market research and data analytics firm YouGov, to understand the levels of fandom of women’s sport in the UK in October 2021 and again in August 2022.

The findings showed that women’s football had the biggest increase in fans with 8.7 million more than in 2021. There was a 19% increase of female fans of women’s football between 2021 and 2022.

The number of people classing themselves as big fans of women’s football tripled between the studies. Winter sports, netball, combat sports and gymnastics also saw notable increases in fans; tennis, athletics, winter sports, gymnastics and cycling have larger fan bases of seven years or longer, whereas football, cricket, rugby and combat sports have gained followers more recently, with fandom relatively in its infancy.

Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: “The BBC is a passionate supporter of women’s sport, so it is fantastic to see such positive evidence of how increased visibility of sport can drive even greater interest and impact.”

YouGov carried out the nationally-representative studies, contacting 2,157 UK adults in October 2021 and 2,129 UK adults in August 2022.