Women’s Sports Enter Breakthrough Era
2024 marked the return of the Summer Olympics to the big stage, and it did so with a bang: it reached 84% of the potential global audience and garnered nearly triple the social media engagement of the Tokyo Olympics.
It was also record-breaking, with athletes breaking 157 records during the Olympics, and it was the first Olympics to have full gender parity, with male and female athletes equally represented.
2025 saw prominent women’s sporting events – particularly quadrennial events including the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the Women’s Cricket World Cup, and the UEFA Women’s Euro – carry the year.
The Growing Appetite for Women’s Sports
Women’s sports are gaining interest among investors, brands, and fans alike.
Today, there are more than 160 women’s sports leagues worldwide, and the number of sponsorships is growing by 19% Year-on-Year – far outpacing the growth of men’s major league sponsorships.
The novelty of women’s sports relative to the maturity of men’s sports plays a role in this: for example, the Philippines hosted the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup in 2025, 36 years after the first FIFA Futsal World Cup in 1989.
As a result, women’s sports revenues are estimated to have grown by 25% in 2025 after surpassing the 2 billion mark.
The shift is also driven by a growing demand among sports fans, with the year bearing witness to multiple broadcast records being broken: 59% of all TV audiences in England tuned in to watch the Women’s Euro Final and the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup had triple the viewing minutes of the previous edition.
The appetite for women’s sports also fueled greater consumer action: more social media engagement and even more conversions, with the Women’s Rugby World Cup finals selling 1.3x more tickets than the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The ‘I’ In ‘Team’
Female athletes themselves are driving consumer interest. This was seen in 2023-2024, when appearances by basketball player Caitlin Clark coincided with higher viewership, generating up to an estimated USD 82.5M in ticket sales alone.
The visibility of female athletes also extends off court, as they are more likely to have a social media presence. Among the top 50 most marketable athletes, 95% of the female athletes have TikTok accounts – 1.6x more than their male counterparts.
This allows them to reach the general population, which may be only casually interested in sports. But among avid fans, this also fosters loyalty not just to the team but also to the athlete, making them effective influencers.
In fact, women’s sports fans are 2.8x more likely to purchase a product endorsed by a female athlete. A study by Parity also found that female athletes are 14% more trustworthy as product endorsers compared to male athletes.
That influence extends beyond sports, as audiences agree that professional women athletes are impactful role models for both young girls and young boys, especially since popular female athletes are, on average, 10 years younger than top male athletes.
The Marketing Game Plan
The upcoming global sporting calendar presents major opportunities for brands to engage with women’s sports fans:
- Don’t be Afraid to Go Off Court. Female athletes reach far and wide: from tentpole sporting events to vertical TikTok dances that go viral. Brands must consider how female athletes align with the brand’s long-term strategy, both on- and off-season, and on big and small screens.
- Women’s Sport is a Team Sport . Women’s sports fans are loyal and recognize the biases that affect their favorite athletes. by leveraging their stories, amplifying women’s sporting events, or investing in the youth sector.
- It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint . The rise of women’s sports isn’t a quick win. Engaging with women’s sport may take years to pay off – but when it does, it can drive affinity among avid fans.