Women’s sports are receiving more attention after experiencing a lack of marketing for decades in comparison to popular and well-established men’s sports. Women’s basketball has never been more popular than it is now. The 2024 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season garnered an unprecedented audience, while the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup is expected to break attendance records. Against this backdrop, 2025 is set to become a significant year for women’s sport as it tries to secure a more even footing with its male counterparts, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’ s latest report, “Strategic Intelligence – Women in Sport 2025,” reveals that even though there is a significant interest in women’s sport, it receives far lesser share of media coverage than the men’s. Additionally, brands are becoming more interested in associating with women’s sport, the popularity and financial wealth of male sport make it a more attractive proposition.

The 2024 (WNBA) draft shattered the league’s TV ratings record when 2.45 million viewers tuned in to see Caitlin Clark taken with the number one overall pick. It attracted over 54 million unique viewers across ABC, CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ION, and NBA TV.

Olivia Snooks, Sport Analyst at GlobalData, comments “Caitlin Clark’s impact on women’s sport is impossible to not mention, her individual achievements, have led to an increase in women’s basketball fans, dubbed the ‘Caitlin Clark Effect’. She has been—and is expected to remain—a pivotal force in drawing sponsorships to the WNBA. Given the substantial interest the league is generating, it is anticipated that its revenue will continue on an upward trajectory.”

In the UK, the Women’s Super League (WSL) plays a significant role in driving revenue within the realm of women’s sports. Looking beyond the 2024/25 season, broadcast revenue will play the most important role in the WSL clubs’ revenue with a new broadcast deal with Sky and BBC agreed for the 2025/26 season, which represents a huge increase in value on the current deal.

Snooks continues: “Despite the huge strides that are being put in place to improve the women’s game and, in turn, aiming to boost its popularity, not only just in the WSL but across women’s sports in general, the reality is that the most male equivalents are still more popular among sports fans. This is due to a variety of factors, including increased media coverage for men’s sports, a lack of knowledge regarding female athletes and their teams, limited marketing, and fewer easy-to-find broadcasts.”

Live audiences for women’s sport have never been stronger, with records being broken often. Based on figures from 2024, women’s soccer was the fifth most attended sport in the UK when considered a separate entity to the men’s game, according to sports marketing agency, Two Circles. This puts women’s soccer behind only men’s soccer, rugby union, cricket, and horse racing in terms of total attendance. The WNBA has experienced significant growth in popularity, with the league setting new attendance records in 2024, with a remarkable 50% increase.

Snooks concludes: “Attendance at women’s sports events is important for the growth of women’s sport. Higher attendance leads to more revenue for women’s sport through increased matchday revenue and ticket sales. The increasing use of major stadiums to host matches allows more fans to experience women’s elite sport firsthand, leading to increased attendance and, in turn, greater matchday revenue.”