Domestic women’s sport attracted record viewing figures last year, with The Hundred and the Women’s Super League credited as key drivers behind the surge.
A new report from the Women’s Sports Trust said almost 33million people watched women’s sport in 2021, with The Hundred and WSL said to have brought in around 11m new viewers between them.
The Hundred, the ECB’s new franchise tournament, launched last summer and was hailed for its impact in promoting women’s cricket. Most matches were played as part of double-headers with men’s games, with all fixtures broadcast live on Sky Sports and some shown on free-to-air TV by the BBC.
The report says cricket attracted 41 per cent of the total viewing hours of women’s sport, with a quarter of its audience claiming they did not watch any men’s cricket on TV in 2021. Of the 4.9m Hundred viewers, 71 per cent said they had gone on to watch more women’s sport.
Football attracted a 39 per cent share, a proportion which is likely to rise, given a landmark new WSL broadcast deal with Sky and the BBC has only been in effect since the start of the new season in September, while next summer also brings a home European Championships.
The 32.9m total viewership for women’s sport represents a marked increase from 2020, when the figure was down at 26.9m, though only a slight rise from 2019 – the last year unaffected by pandemic disruption – when 32.8m tuned in.
“Domestic competitions such as The Hundred and the Women’s Super League are the perfect gateway to viewing more women’s sport and I look forward to seeing the impact other major international events this year will have on future viewing figures,” said Women’s Sports Trust CEO Tammy Parlour.
“We know how important these major events are in growing viewership figures but we want this growth to be sustainable, driving greater habit amongst audiences, to ensure women’s sport continues to be visible, viable and unstoppable.”
