Sports on the Rise in 2025
Australian brands have an unparalleled opportunity and responsibility to fuel the momentum of women’s sport and female athlete investment. The YouGov “Sports on the Rise in 2025” report released last month (Sept) highlights a rapidly shifting landscape where youth-driven interest, cross-generational appeal, and evolving brand health metrics are rewriting the commercial potential of women’s sports. Brands that want to lead, not follow, should pay careful attention to the data, the dynamics, and the actions required to truly create change for, and with, women in sport
Key Insights: The Australian Sports Shift
YouGov data shows that while traditional sports like AFL continue to enjoy strong brand health, the leagues and teams experiencing the fastest growth in positive impression, value, and reputation are increasingly those with diverse and youth-driven audiences, soccer leagues such as LALIGA and the Premier League are surging, with Gen Z and Millennials leading the charge. Importantly, domestic leagues with strong women’s competitions and visible female athletes are seeing notable brand health improvements, a signal that commercial appetite is aligning with cultural relevance.
What Brands Must Learn
Gen Z and Millennial Engagement: Younger consumers are the most dynamic drivers of changing perceptions, with outsized improvements in sports indices among these groups. For brands, aligning with women’s sports isn’t just about visibility, it’s about fueling a future-facing, progressive narrative that resonates with their next generation of consumers.
Multi-Metric Brand Health: Growth isn’t just measured by attendance or viewership; it’s tracked by emotional connection, value for money, satisfaction, and advocacy. Sponsorships and partnerships need to move beyond eyeballs to craft integrated, purpose-led stories tapping into reputation and “recommend” capital, a space women’s leagues and athletes are primed to own.
Action: Seizing the Women's Sport Advantage
Visibility Drives Value: Brands should actively elevate women’s sport visibility, not just by adding logos, but by co-creating storytelling across channels, leveraging athlete ambassadors, and investing in consistent, year-round campaigns.
Cross-Generational Appeal: While Gen Z and Millennials are driving growth, brands should not discount older audiences; domestic competitions still see significant improvements among Gen X and Boomers. Well-designed campaigns can activate the “family effect,” turning women’s games into whole-of-community experiences.
Authenticity is Non-Negotiable: Performative investment will be quickly called out by increasingly savvy audiences. The most effective brands have a values-alignment strategy, supporting equitable resources, facilities, and leadership pathways off the field as well as on.
Creating Change: Lessons for the Next Era
For real impact, investment in women’s sports must go deeper than event sponsorships.
Build long-term partnerships that offer skills development, leadership pipelines, and financial literacy for female athletes.
Use data-driven storytelling to spotlight the unique journeys, achievements, and values of women athletes, showcasing role models to inspire the next generation and connect emotionally across all segments.
Anchor campaigns in measurable change: ensure that metrics such as share of voice, engagement growth, and brand health improvements are applied to women’s properties with the same rigor as men’s.
The Bottom Line
The YouGov report is a clarion call: the sports on the fastest rise in Australia are those that capture cultural momentum, youth attention, and social purpose. Australian brands that step up with meaningful, authentic investment in women’s sport will not only tap into a commercially expanding segment, they’ll be helping to reset what leadership in Australian sport really means for the decade ahead.
Source: YouGov Research: Sports on the Rise Sept 2025
