A brand new Nielsen report reveals a big surge in ladies’s sports activities viewership and promoting spend within the US throughout the first half of 2026, highlighting a cultural re-alignment and rising business curiosity.
IMAGE: Minnesota Lynx guard Courtney Williams (10) handles the ball towards Portland Fireplace ahead Emily Engstler (21) throughout the first half throughout a WNBA match on Wednesday, August 12 at Moda Middle. The WNBA, which welcomed its first Canadian workforce this season, hit 3.8 billion minutes seen for the 2026 season main into the All-Star weekend break. {Photograph}: Soobum Im-Imagn Pictures/Reuters
Key Factors
- Girls’s sports activities within the U.S. attracted 28.6 billion minutes of views within the first half of 2026, an 18% improve in comparison with the earlier yr.
- Promoting spend on ladies’s sports activities has surged by 120% since 2022, with 52% of customers advocating for extra model funding.
- Nielsen’s evaluation signifies that 122.5 million People, or 52.8% of the inhabitants, are actually fascinated with ladies’s sports activities.
- The WNBA recorded 3.8 billion minutes seen for the 2026 season and a 71% improve in sponsor valuation.
- Girls represent 9 million of the estimated 16 million new sports activities followers, with 48% of U.S. ladies expressing excessive curiosity in at the very least one sport.
Girls’s sports activities attracted 28.6 billion minutes of views within the US within the first half of 2026, a Nielsen report launched on Thursday confirmed, marking an 18% improve over the identical interval final yr. Girls’s sports activities entered 2026 on a excessive after experiencing unprecedented development final yr, with new franchises and leagues, greater tv audiences and better promoting influence.
Rising Curiosity and Funding
Nielsen’s evaluation discovered 122.5 million People – or 52.8% of the overall inhabitants – are actually fascinated with ladies’s sports activities. The information is a part of the agency’s report on the business and cultural evolution of girls’s sports activities. Promoting spend on ladies’s sports activities is up 120% since 2022, Nielsen mentioned, and 52% of customers agree manufacturers and sponsors ought to make investments extra in ladies’s sports activities.
“The rise in recognition of girls’s sports activities isn’t only a fleeting pattern; it’s a cultural re-alignment the place entry to video games, storytelling round athletes and ongoing funding from manufacturers are altering the economic system and power of world sports activities,” Charlene Well mannered Corley, Nielsen’s vice chairman of inclusive insights, mentioned in a launch.
WNBA Leads the Approach
The WNBA, which welcomed its first Canadian workforce this season, hit 3.8 billion minutes seen for the 2026 season main into the All-Star weekend break, Nielsen mentioned, including that the league has skilled a 71% improve in sponsor valuation.
Rising Feminine Fan Base
Girls are additionally turning into extra current within the wider sports activities viewers, together with in fan bases throughout males’s leagues. Among the many estimated 16 million new sports activities followers, 9 million are ladies, Nielsen discovered, and 48% of U.S. ladies say they’re very fascinated with at the very least one sport. The NBA has skilled the most important year-over-year development in feminine viewership between 2024 and 2026, up 55%, whereas the NHL is second at 44%, in line with Nielsen.
