Women's sport has the audience. Do you have the content?

Even the forecasters keep underestimating it

Deloitte expects global revenues in women's elite sport to reach at least US$3 billion in 2026 for the first time, which would be a 25% increase on the US$2.4 billion generated in 2025. Revenues rose 248% between 2022 and 2025. And the growth has repeatedly outrun predictions: Deloitte's original forecast for 2024 was US$1.28 billion, and the actual figure came in well above it, at US$1.88 billion.

Audiences are following. UEFA Women's EURO 2025 in Switzerland drew a record aggregate attendance of 657,291, beating the 574,875 who watched England 2022. The tournament reached a cumulative live audience of more than 400 million, and its posts drew over half a billion views. In the UK, the final peaked at 11.6 million viewers on BBC One, 59% of all TV viewing at the time, with a further 4.2 million streams online. For one match, that's a remarkable share of everyone watching TV. In the US, WNBA regular-season games on ESPN networks averaged 1.3 million viewers in 2025, up 6% year on year.

Sponsors are signing faster than teams are publishing

Brands have noticed. SponsorUnited tracked more than 5,300 sponsorship deals across the WNBA, NWSL, WTA, LPGA and college athletes' name, image and likeness (NIL) deals in its 2026 report. Excluding NIL, women's sports sponsorship grew 17.5% year on year, more than 3.5 times the rate of men's leagues. Deloitte expects commercial revenue, which includes sponsorship, to be the largest share of women's sport revenue in 2026, at 45%.

Sponsors buy audiences, though, and audiences are built with content. Too often a partner signs with a women's team or league and finds little to activate around: fixtures confirmed late, few player stories, highlights that turn up days after the match. The deal is done, but nobody has built the content engine to go with it. Many rights holders don't yet know this new audience well either, which makes the rights harder to value and sponsor meetings harder to prepare for.

If fans only hear from you on match day, what are you selling the rest of the week?

Broadcast is moving in the right direction. Deloitte expects it to make up 25% of women's sport revenue in 2026, up from 23% in 2025. Rights holders can't wait for broadcasters to do the storytelling for them, though. Owned channels, short-form video and creator partnerships fill the gap between matches.

What does content-ready actually look like?

You don't have to match the men's output post for post, but you do need a reliable rhythm. That starts with fixtures and broadcast times announced early, so fans can plan, and player profiles that give people someone to follow. Add a weekly series a partner can present, highlights out within hours, and clear numbers on reach and engagement that a sponsor can take to its own board.

A second-tier club or a new league can do this without a studio, as long as someone owns the plan and sticks to the calendar. Short vertical clips filmed on a phone, a bilingual player Q&A or a matchday gallery shared within the hour each give a partner something to put its name to, and together they build an audience it can measure.