Advanced Television

Darta: US consumed 46bn minutes of women’s sports in 2025

March 7, 2026

According to Nielsen’s proprietary data, nearly 46 billion minutes of women’s sports were consumed in the US in 2025.

“There is a long history of incredible achievements of women athletes on the field of play and now they are being celebrated and watched by more people than ever,” noted Charlene Polite Corley, Vice President, Inclusive Insights, Nielsen. “With Nielsen’s continuing improvement for measuring live sports, streaming and capturing out of home viewing, we are better able to measure these landmark levels of engagement.”

Key findings include:

  • The 2026 Milan Winter Olympics women’s hockey gold-medal game between the USA and Canada set a viewership record, averaging 5.3 million viewers across USA Network and Peacock. The thrilling 2-1 overtime victory peaked at 7.7 million viewers during the final minutes. This midday broadcast became the most-watched women’s hockey game in history.
  • Led by Alysa Liu’s gold-medal winning performance in the figure skating free skate, and the US Women’s Hockey Team’s 2-1 overtime victory over Canada in the gold-medal game, NBCUniversal yesterday delivered the most-watched Winter Olympics weekday coverage since Feb. 17, 2014, averaging 26.7 million viewers
  • The 2025 WNBA season achieved record-breaking viewership, with ESPN networks delivering their most-watched WNBA regular season and postseason ever, averaging 1.3 million viewers across 25 regular-season games (up 6 per cent YoY) and 1.2 million across 24 postseason games (up 5 per cent YoY), per Nielsen Big Data + Panel. The Full Season across All National Networks was consumed for 220.12 million hours, making it the most-consumed Full Season ever (up 16 per cent YOY).
  • NCAA women’s basketball TV ratings in 2024-2025 continued to show strong growth, averaging 280,000 viewers across ESPN networks for the regular season, the highest since 2008-2009, with multiple games exceeding 1 million viewers. The 2025 tournament was the third-most watched on record.
  • ESPN’s coverage of the 2025 NCAA Women’s College World Series (WCWS) achieved record-breaking TV ratings, with the Finals averaging 2.2 million viewers and Game 3 peaking at 2.4 million, making it the most-watched NCAA softball game in history.
  • ESPN’s coverage of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament finished up 13 per cent year over year, averaging 666,000 viewers across the 15 matches.
  • ESPN’s coverage of the 2025 Little League Softball World Series Championship Game was the most-watched on record, with 1.4 million viewers, up 66 per cent.
  • Women’s tennis TV audience saw a massive resurgence in 2025, with the US Open Women’s Final averaging 2.4 million viewers on ESPN, a 50 per cent increase over 2024. The 2025 Wimbledon Ladies’ Semifinals were the most viewed in a decade averaging 897K viewers, an increase of 31 per cent vs. 2024, with American No. 13 Anisimova defeating No. 1 Sabalenka and No. 8 Swiatek’s victory over Bencic.
  • The 2025 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) on ESPN season delivered record-breaking growth across ESPN platforms, scoring a 61 per cent increase in average viewership for the regular season (228,000 viewers to 141,000 viewers), according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel.
  • The 2025 NWSL Championship between Gotham FC and the Washington Spirit on CBS averaged a record-breaking 1.18 million viewers, the first in NWSL league history to surpass one million, peaking at 1.55 million. This marked a 22 per ccent increase over the 2024 final and a 45 per cent increase over 2023, with a 70 per cent rise in viewers aged 18-34. In addition, Total viewership across Nielsen-rated platforms in 2025 reached 20,162,000, representing an 18 per cent increase from the 2024 season.
  • In 2026, for the first time in league history, every single LPGA Tour event and coverage of every round will be live across the country.

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