Research — August 14, 2025
Women's sports in 2025 – The Olympic legacy and future potential growth
Women's sports continued to grow and become a leading part of the global sports conversation in 2023 and 2024. Attendances at live events and viewership for televised broadcasts increased, as did investment interest.
The key event in 2024 was the Paris Olympics, where, for the first time, gender parity between men and women was achieved, as discussed previously by Kagan. In 2025, more large-scale women's sporting events will take place, including the European Soccer Championships and the Cricket and Rugby Union World Cups. Women's sports will be looking for continued growth to attract spectators, sponsors and increased revenue.
➤ The 2024 Paris Olympics is considered to have delivered on its aim to enhance women's sport.
➤ Women's sports attract their own type of investment and sponsorship revenue.
➤ Major events like the 2025 European Soccer Championships have attracted record attendance at the live games.
➤ New broadcast partners, such as Netflix, are now investing in media rights.
The Paris Olympics
Media consumption
According to IOC sources, the host broadcaster France Télévisions SA content was watched by nearly 60 million people, with the average viewer watching 24 hours of Olympic content. The streaming platform France.tv recorded more than 200 million views during the games. In the US, NBCUniversal Media LLC reached 30.6 million viewers per day, up 82% from the 2020 Tokyo Games. The Peacock streaming service streamed 23.5 billion minutes of content related to Paris 2024, which is 40% more than all other games combined. In Japan, 104 million people watched the Olympics across the country's consortium of TV channels. In the United Kingdom, the British Broadcasting Corp.'s coverage of the games was streamed a record 218 million times, more than double the viewership of the Tokyo Games.
This growth in viewership has been accompanied by an increase in advertising revenue. In the US, it has been reported that $244 million was spent on women's sports in 2024, a 139% increase year over year. Advertising featuring female athletes was particularly effective during live sports events.
Digital and social media
The role of platforms like TikTok Inc. is especially impactful and important in promoting women's sports. During the Paris Olympics, 67% of all views for Team GB athletes who competed at the games were for content featuring female athletes. Olympic medallist Lina Nielsen drew the highest number of views for any British athlete, reaching 28 million views.
Investors
Increased interest, viewing figures, and attendance at live events continue to attract investment from a variety of sources, including funds and investments led by women.
One of the most notable investors in this space is Michele Kang, an American businesswoman who is now investing in women's sports after selling her healthcare technology firm, Cognosante, LLC, to Accenture in 2024. She created Kynisca Sports Management Limited to oversee her investments in three women's soccer teams: Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, and London City Lionesses. Kang's investment is not limited to teams; she is also focused on research and development. Through her Kynisca Innovation Hub, she has invested $25 million into developing women athletes.
Other investment vehicles led by women include Mercury/13 Group, headed by Victoire Cogevina, and the Monarch Collective, led by Kara Nortman and Jasmine Robinson. Mercury/13 had announced a $100 million fund to invest in women's soccer, while The Monarch Collective has already invested $150 million into soccer and is expected to increase this to $250 million.
CVC Capital Partners PLC, another notable sports investment vehicle, has yet to invest in women's soccer, though it did invest £125 million in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour in 2023.
Sponsorship interest
Major brands such as PepsiCo Inc. are similarly increasing their investment in women's sports. Earlier this year, PepsiCo extended its sponsorship of Union des Associations Européennes de Football's women's national and club competitions until 2030. PepsiCo has already emphasized the importance of adopting a different tone of voice for its brand partnerships. The deal includes Pepsi and other brands owned by the company, including Lay's and Gatorade.
The WNBA has also extended one of its major sponsorship deals, enhancing its relationship with Nike Inc.. The 12-year extension will run until 2037, with the sports brand looking to "deepen its investment" in the sports league. WNBA teams have generated an impressive total of $76 million in sponsorship revenue this year, reflecting a significant 52% increase since 2022, according to a report from SponsorUnited.
Brand associations appear to have a positive impact on consumers as well as sports teams. The UK-based Women's Sports Trust has recently published research indicating that 28.9 million UK adults are now aware of at least one women's sports partnership, while 43% of UK adults feel more positive toward brands that support their local community through women's sports.
Outside of brand value, women's sports have positively impacted local regions that have hosted sporting events. The 2024 Champions League Final that was held in San Mames, Spain, had a positive impact of €23 million in the local area, alongside other cultural and regional benefits, as reported by Bilbao regional authorities.
2025 European Soccer Championship
This year's Women's European Soccer Championships have been eagerly anticipated. The 2022 event, which was held in England, attracted record viewing figures and media attention. The final saw hosts England defeat Germany in front of a sold-out Wembley Stadium.
As the game grows, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) expects to see substantial growth in the revenue generated by the tournament, particularly from media and commercial rights. The UEFA is predicting that total revenue will double in 2025 to €128 million, compared to €63.2 million raised in 2022.
Additionally, the UEFA has stated that the tournament will not only help women's sports but also provide strong economic benefits to the host country, Switzerland. The governing body has estimated that the event will add between CHF180 million and CHF193 million to the Swiss economy.
The event has some unique sponsors that do not feature in the UEFA's men's game, including Amazon.com Inc., Euronics, Grifols SA, and Visa Inc.. Other sponsors include Lay's, Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, Heineken NV, Adidas AG and PlayStation. The Prize money for the tournament has also increased to reflect the growing importance and value of the event; in 2025, the prize pool will be €41 million, a 156% increase compared to 2022.
Broadcast viewing has been strong, with key nations like the UK delivering audiences of over 10 million for England's quarter-final victory over Sweden. The Euros have also faced the challenge of being scheduled against the latter stages of Fédération Internationale De Football Association's inaugural men's World Club Cup. England's victory over Wales drew an average audience of 4.2 million on ITV, while Chelsea's defeat of Paris Saint-Germain attracted 1.1 million viewers on Channel 5 at the same time. In the host nation of Switzerland, the Swiss team's defeat by Italy recorded a 76.5% audience share on SRF's linear channel.
The 2025 event saw 106 goals scored, beating the 2022 record of 95. With 657,291 fans attending live matches, it was the highest-attended Women's Euros ever. The England Lionesses' victory was watched by a reported peak live audience of 12.2 million people across all BBC platforms. The match peaked at 11.6 million on BBC One, representing 59% of all TV audiences, which was also shown on the commercial broadcaster ITV PLC. Across both channels, it reached a combined peak TV audience of 16.2 million, with an average of 12 million viewers watching the entire match.
Broadcast rights
In terms of broadcast deals, one of the most eye-catching agreements in women's sports media has been Netflix Inc.'s acquisition of the US rights to the Women's World Cup in 2027 and 2031. The tournaments will take place in Brazil and the US, respectively, and this acquisition signals another step into live sports broadcasting by the streamer. The time zone will fit ideally with its American broadcast audiences, and with the home nation having a very strong record in the event, it may prove to be a game-changer for Netflix.
Arguably one of the strongest domestic soccer leagues, the Women's Super League (WSL) agreed to a new record broadcast deal with Sky Sports and the BBC late last year. The deal is worth £65 million over five years and represents a 63% uplift in revenue for the WSL.
More global events in 2025 – Rugby and Cricket World Cup
Rugby World Cup
The tournament will be held in England across eight different venues in eight different cities. The final will be played at the home of rugby, Twickenham Stadium. England, New Zealand and Canada are the teams most likely to win, but tournament sports often throw up surprises.
Commercial partners for the Women's World Cup include Mastercard Inc., Capgemini SE, Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., and Defender, all of which sponsored the men's World Cup in 2023. Other sponsors in 2025 include Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
The US team will be looking to build on the success of its first-ever Olympic medal in women's rugby. The US team took the bronze medal by beating one of the pre-tournament favorites, Australia. During its run, a new star player emerged: Ilona Maher, who has been held up as a leading example of what women rugby players can achieve. She has her own brand deal with Adidas, among others. With over 5 million followers on Instagram, she is one of the most recognized rugby players, male or female, in the world.
Cricket World Cup
The Cricket World Cup is scheduled to be held in India and Sri Lanka, with Australia expected to be the strongest team, having won seven previous World Cups. However, hosts India, South Africa and England are also tipped to progress deep into the event.
As a mark of the progress the event has made in recent years, the International Cricket Council has unbundled the media rights for the women's event from the men's game. Global brand Unilever PLC has now signed on as the event's first dedicated sponsor.
ICC Chief Commercial Officer Anurag Dahiya said this decision was driven by women's cricket's "stand-alone commercial value." Dahiya went on to say, "The ICC has taken a forward-thinking approach to pursue more partnerships with a focus on the women's game, and we are delighted to see this come to fruition through this exciting deal, which not only highlights the growing commercial appeal of women's cricket but also underlines the ICC's position as one of the pioneers of the women's sports movement."
Economics of Streaming Media is a regular feature from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan.
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
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