More people in the UK are watching women’s sport than ever and viewers are tuning into events for longer, according to new research.
The Women’s Sport Trust found 15.1m saw three minutes or more of coverage in the first three months of 2022, a record for the first quarter of a year.
More than 17.9m people in total watched women’s sport from January to March.
The Women’s Super League was the most popular event and more viewers watched coverage on BBC Two than elsewhere.
“These encouraging figures support our longstanding view that if women’s sport is made visible, then audiences will watch,” said Tammy Parlour, chief executive of the Women’s Sport Trust.
“It validates the commitment that UK broadcasters are making to unprecedented visibility of women’s sport.”
This season, Women’s Super League games have been shown live across the BBC and Sky in a deal worth £7m-£8m per season.
Under the three-year deal, the BBC will broadcast 22 live matches, with a minimum of 18 shown on BBC One or BBC Two.
Sky Sports will provide coverage of up to 44 matches screened across the Main Event, Premier League and Sky Sports Football channels.
Other events that have proved popular with audiences include the Women’s Six Nations, the Arnold Clark Cup and ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.
The figure of 15.1m watching three minutes or more of women’s sport coverage in the first quarter of the year is an increase from 5.06m in 2021 and a previous peak of 10.2 million in 2019.
The total of 17.9m has increased from 6.7m at this stage of 2021.
Viewers are tuning in for an average time of 122 minutes in comparison to 68 minutes at this stage of 2021, with figures also indicating watching women’s sport is becoming a growing habit with more viewers repeatedly returning.
Later in 2022, there will be further opportunities to watch some of the world’s best female athletes on the BBC during television coverage of Wimbledon, Women’s Euro 2022, the Commonwealth Games and the Hundred.