Hair is long, dyed, with a ribbon, as if it had just come from the salon. Well-groomed limbs, neat make-up, beautiful, toned bodies that impress with their presence, pink or fuchsia shoes and a few essential feminine accessories. Still a contradictory spectacle, with the struggle for victory, pain, sweat, screams …

These images are still untouched territory for the sports industry. Television, advertisers and sponsors are discovering attractive combinations in women’s sports and are starting to invest more and more in it. The sport finds a different version of itself, heralding a commercial revolution in a crowded environment.

Wembley’s historical record is 87,192 viewers of the football final between England and Germany at Euro 2022, but much more – 17 million viewers who watched the match on BBC One, mobile channels, websites, betting companies and major global brands. They were all convinced that there was plenty of room to play…and that the £30m paid by Barclays to sponsor the English Women’s Super League had not been wasted.

According to The Economist, JD O’Lone, head of public relations for Heineken, a major Champions League sponsor, said it was important for the company to join in “the turn towards gender equality in football”. However, not only the “king of sports” attracts suitors for the once “weaker sex”. A related study by The Women’s Sport Trust found that by April 15, 2022, the total number of women’s team sports viewers had reached 17,900,000, up from 6,700,000 in the same period last year. That’s a 300% increase!

According to this year’s survey, total viewership of women’s team sports has increased by 300%.

Women’s football and the Women’s Champions League took the lion’s share, reaching 58%, followed by the Rugby World Cup (25%) and cricket (13%). FIFA and UEFA are entering mutual sponsorship deals, while WNBA viewership in the Americas is up 50% in 2021 compared to 2020, resulting in a new TV rights deal worth $75 million. Impressive progress was also demonstrated by the quality indicators of television viewing characteristics.

In the first quarter of 2022, the average viewer spent 54 minutes more on women’s team sports than last year. The 2021 average of 68 minutes has grown to 122, with 33% of viewers watching at least three broadcasts, doubling from last year (17%).

Of course, these numbers predate individual sports such as tennis or athletics, where women have the same or even more influence than men, and the prize money in major tournaments is the same. A YouGov poll is also indicative, according to which all three of the most famous athletes in the world were tennis players. Many attribute the secret of success to the sponsorship nature of the sport.

“Over the next decade, women’s football in Europe will grow faster than any other sport,” says Patrick Massey of sports consultancy Portas Consulting, while Lynsey Douglas, an analyst at Nielsen, notes that some women’s sports fans don’t watch men’s sports. generally. , giving advertisers the opportunity to reach an entirely new audience.