Growing Recognition of Women’s Sports
The sports landscape has witnessed a remarkable rise in the visibility of women’s sports, exemplified by India’s Women’s Premier League (WPL), which recently secured media rights valued at an astounding $700 million. This places it in a prestigious second position globally, just behind the WNBA in broadcast value.
Emergence of Women’s Sports Network
In early 2022, the Women’s Sports Network was introduced with the mission of promoting and supporting women’s sports via an ad-supported streaming platform. Despite these encouraging developments, recent data indicates a persistent gender gap in both viewership and participation in sports.
Viewership Trends Show Gender Disparities
A YouGov poll spanning 18 international markets revealed significant differences in viewership, with men notably more likely than women to have watched professional men’s sports (58% of men vs. 33% of women) in the past month. Furthermore, men were also more inclined to watch professional women’s sports during the same period, with 31% of men participating compared to 22% of women.
Participation Rates Reflect Similar Trends
The survey data corroborate that men are more engaged in sports activities than women. Globally, one-third of men reported involvement in any sports activity—whether casual or organized—in the last month, exceeding women’s participation by 11 percentage points (31% men vs. 20% women).
Regional Insights: UK and USA
Viewership patterns in specific markets echo global trends. In the UK, 56% of men tune into professional men’s sports, while the viewership sharply declines to 23% for women’s sports. Among women, only 15% watch women’s sports as compared to 31% following men’s sports. A similar trend exists in the United States.
Engagement in the UAE and India
In the UAE, men are nearly twice as likely to watch professional men’s sports than women (63% vs. 37%). However, interestingly, women have a slight edge in viewership of professional women’s sports (33% women vs. 32% men).
India shows a higher level of sports engagement overall, with around two-thirds of men and nearly half of women watching professional men’s sports (64% vs. 45%). Remarkably, the viewership for women’s sports is almost identical between both genders (37% women vs. 35% men).
Singapore’s Gender Gap
In Singapore, the contrast in sports viewership is pronounced, as 41% of men watch professional men’s sports compared to only 15% of women. Furthermore, just 11% of women reported watching professional women’s sports, a significant seven-point gap compared to men’s 18%. Participation rates also show that men are twice as likely to engage in sports activities.
Denmark’s Closer Engagement
Denmark reflects a smaller gap in engagement between men and women; 60% of men versus 40% of women watch professional men’s sports. Moreover, men were nine points more likely than women to watch professional women’s sports (34% men vs. 23% women).
Opportunities for Growth in Women’s Sports
These findings clearly indicate that, despite the recent advances in women’s sports globally, there lies a substantial opportunity for growth and increased engagement.
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Methodology
The insights presented are based on YouGov Surveys, which provide rapid results from nationally representative or targeted audiences across multiple markets. The data comes from surveys conducted with adults aged 18 and older, with sample sizes varying between 10,655 and 30,473 for each market. The surveys were carried out online in January 2023. The samples are nationally representative, except for India, which employs urban representative samples.
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