The Women’s Super League is concerned about the broadcast slots allocated by its main rights partner, Sky Sports, this season after only 71,000 people watched televised coverage of the flagship fixture between Arsenal and Chelsea this month.
The average audience on Sky Sports Main Event was 55,900 – lower than the 57,000 attendance at the Emirates Stadium – with a further 15,100 viewers tuning in on Sky Sports Premier League. The corresponding fixture last season attracted an audience of 732,000 because it was free-to-air on the BBC and took place during the men’s international break.
Multiple sources within the sport have said the noon Saturday kick-off time was the biggest factor behind the drop-off for that game, which is concerning for the WSL given that most of its TV games will kick off at lunchtime this season.
Under the £65m, five-year deal with Sky, which has the rights for 118 live matches each season, noon on Sunday has been designated as the flagship slot. Sky has also broadcast five Saturday lunchtime games this season, up from two over the whole of the last campaign.
The Arsenal v Chelsea viewing figures are a huge drop from the WSL’s average audiences last season, which were 337,000 on Sky and 682,000 on the BBC. The discrepancy is widely attributed to the fact that most of Sky’s live games kicked off later on Sunday afternoons and evenings last season.
Sky has scrapped Sunday evening kick-offs because they were unpopular with match-going fans and families, but they did attract good TV audiences, helped by Sky retaining the attention of Premier League viewers.
In the first half of this season, 49 of 66 WSL games are noon or 11.55am kick-offs, a significant change from the 2pm Sunday slot that has traditionally been favoured by the WSL. The earlier kick-off slots often clash with junior and grassroots games, which is believed to have had an impact on viewing figures. The Saturday lunchtime slot is problematic for the WSL because it is often up against a live Premier League game and a full EFL programme. Arsenal v Chelsea clashed on 8 November with Tottenham v Manchester United, which kicked off 30 minutes earlier, and several EFL fixtures.
The Premier League’s Tottenham v Manchester United game clashed with the WSL’s flagship Arsenal v Chelsea match on 8 November. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/Reuters
TNT Sports has the early Saturday Premier League game, which often gains audiences of more than a million, and up to seven EFL matches are available at the same time on Sky. The main EFL game averages an audience of between 200,000 and 300,000, with all seven combined usually attracting about 500,000 viewers.
The 70,000 figure was collated by the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (Barb), the UK’s official body for measuring television and streaming habits, based on average views of Sky’s entire programme. Sky prefers to measure views across 90 minutes, with its figure for the game about 78,000.
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WSL sources said the 70,000 audience was 30% up on last season’s two Saturday noon kick-offs, although it was regarded as disappointing given it was the European champions against the domestic title holders. This season’s figures for three-minute views and social media engagement are more encouraging, showing significant growth across Sky and the WSL’s channels.
The BBC has the rights to 21 live WSL matches this season. Its contract has also presented scheduling challenges, with another prime fixture, Chelsea v Manchester United, broadcast on BBC3 and BBC iPlayer on a Friday evening last month.
The concern over broadcast slots feeds into a broader problem about the WSL’s apparent struggle to capitalise on England’s second European Championship win last summer. There was a significant rise in crowds and viewing figures after the Lionesses’ first Euros triumph in 2022 but early evidence suggests that has not been replicated.
The average WSL attendance over the first six match rounds has been 6,500, with a study from the Women’s Sports Trust last month reporting a 1% decline on the corresponding period last season. Arsenal are responsible for more than one-third of the league’s ticket sales.
