A s well as online searches, social media conversations around the women’s game are also increasing, again driven by events. The UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 and the UEFA Women’s Champions League 2022/23 drove thousands of social media users to discuss the game and create conversations celebrating the growing visibility and success of the women’s teams. INCREASING COMMERCIAL INTEREST Increased audience attention is driving commercial interest in partnership and sponsorship deals. Women’s football has recently captured the attention of high-profile corporate sponsors, as demonstrated by Barclays doubling their existing investment in English women’s football and extending their previous commitment to also become the headline sponsor of the FA Women’s Championship, and Google Pixel signing a four-year deal to become the Frauen Bundesliga’s naming rights partner. Elsewhere, recent multi- year sponsorships of UEFA’s women’s football from the likes of PepsiCo, Just Eat Takeaway.com and EA SPORTS lend further credibility to the women’s game, and in the latter case brings women’s football to a new audience in the world of video games. THE RISE OF WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
For the first time, many of these investments (including those from Barclays and Google Pixel) are being made independently of men’s teams or organisations. Corporations are increasingly recognising that not only does women’s football attract sizable audiences, but it also reaches beyond the typical men’s football audience to those with no previous relationship to the sport. Women’s football therefore offers incremental reach and untapped
commercial opportunity. STILL MORE TO COME
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Despite the sizable increases we’ve seen in recent years in the level of interest and engagement with women’s football through various channels, many fans still expect their interest to increase. Across markets surveyed, a sizable minority of all football followers expect their interest in women’s football to grow, with fewer fans expecting their interest to wane in the wake of major events within the women’s game. Fans in China (34%), the United States (33%) and Spain (24%), in particular, feel they are likely to follow the women’s game more closely than they have in the past. n
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