The popular streaming platform has become the latest media outlet to jump on the wagon of women’s sports. The remarkable growth in the viewership of women’s sports in 2024 has shown that they have a viewership if it’s displayed contrary to the old battles between having women’s sports aired or not.
Netflix secured the exclusive US rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 and 2031. It made the announcement a couple of days after FIFA had announced the date and the host country for the tournament. The tournament will be hosted in cities across Brazil between June 24 to July 25. It will have 32 participating teams across the globe.
Netflix decided to secure these rights after it aired the women’s professional boxing match between two of the greatest women boxers, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. Netflix reported an estimated 74 million viewers. The event topped Netflix’s charts as the most viewed show for a week, averaging 46.6 million views in runtime.
Women’s Viewership Growth in 2024
The Olympics had a great mileage in showing how much the viewership for women’s sports has grown. The growth in women’s sports coverage correlated with the increase in viewership as women’s sports fans had more choices and streaming options for the games. The women’s final soccer game between the USA and Brazil recorded an average of 9 million viewers, surpassing any Olympic game viewership. The USA gymnastics finals were also highly viewed across the globe at 13 million viewers.
This year, the WNBA also witnessed a quantum leap in viewership and demanded that the games be aired on national television beyond the traditional channels that have previously aired them.
On other platforms, such as X, the USA women’s gymnastics team was the most tweeted about sport at the Olympics.
What 2025 Holds
It has been a great year for women’s sports, and we can only hope that the trend of women’s sports viewership will get bigger and bigger in the next year. The continued support of media houses and vocal athletes and their fans pushing for women’s games to have air time will continue to drive the fundamental change in women’s sports viewership.
