Women’s sport: inching towards the UK media mainstream
- Publisher Enders Analysis.
- Publish Date October 14, 2019
- Sector Media, Sports, TV, UK Media.
- Company

Media coverage of women’s sport escalated this summer thanks to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which ignited national interest. The Lionesses attracted an exceptional peak TV audience of 11.8 million for England’s semi-final match against the USA
Still, coverage of women's sport remains minimal outside of major events: only 4% of printed sports articles reference female athletes. Quality press are leading the way—the launch of Telegraph Women’s Sport being the prime example—but the popular press are yet to follow
Freely-accessible coverage will generate greater interest and audiences for women’s sport, but continuous investment from all media will be needed to fulfil its potential
Contents
Media coverage of women’s sport in the UK
Broadcasting coverage
- TV coverage is up across the main events
- Audiences are growing, but from a low base
- Audiences skew male
Press coverage
National newspapers’ print coverage
- A step-change in 2019
- The Olympic boom
Online press coverage
Case study: Telegraph Women’s Sport (TWS)
Broadcasting/media rights
Appendix: Methodology
Live broadcast coverage
Press coverage
- Newspapers covered
List of charts/tables
Figure 1. TV audience gender split comparison
Figure 2. Total hours of live TV coverage of Women's World Cups since 2010
Figure 3. Selected women’s competitions with low average audiences
Figure 4. Coverage of women’s sport by national newspaper, 2019
Figure 5. Press coverage of women's sport by sport, 2019
Figure 6. Press coverage during the Summer Olympics versus the year after
Figure 7. UK publishers’ online sections for women’s sport
Figure 8: Top 50 most shared articles on social media, July 2018-July 2019
Figure 9: Selected women’s sports competitions analysed since 2010