Visibility and our 2026 predictions!

Women’s sport has never been more visible – but visibility and value are still two very different things.

What the Visibility Report tells us

• In the UK, women’s sport reached a record 48 million people on broadcast in 2025 and passed 10,000 hours of coverage for the first time.

• Yet it still made up only a small slice of total prime‑time sports inventory, while punching above its weight in audience share and engagement, especially among women and younger fans.

• Linear TV reach is flattening or even dipping, but digital is exploding; fans are increasingly finding women’s sport through YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and athlete‑led content rather than traditional channels.

• The key message: women’s sport has “won” visibility, the real challenge now is turning that audience and cultural relevance into stable, fairly valued commercial structures.

What Australia has in front of it

• We’re less than a few months out from hosting the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026, with 27 matches across Perth, Gold Coast and Sydney, including the Matildas playing in every host city and a Grand Final at Stadium Australia.

• These games will be played in the same venues and on the same screens where the Matildas’ 2023 World Cup run drew almost 18.6 million Australians and delivered the biggest TV audience in our history.

• Add in other women’s world and regional tournaments plus rising domestic properties, from WNBL’s new era to women’s cricket, league and union and 2026 shapes as another year of huge shared moments for women’s sport here.

The honest bit: what will probably happen

• After 2023, the phones didn’t ring in the way many of us expected; a handful of smart brands leaned in, but there was no broad rush to re‑weight portfolios towards women’s sport, despite the data and the emotion.

• Looking at global patterns, the most likely scenario is that 2026 will deliver:

  • packed stadiums and strong broadcast numbers for the Asian Cup and other major events,

  • a wave of short‑term campaigns that celebrate the moment,

  • but only incremental change in long‑term, women‑led deals and structural investment.

• In other words, we may see more “Til It’s Done” style creative success stories and award‑winning campaigns, but not yet the wholesale budget shifts that match women’s sport’s audience and influence.

If we’re brutally honest, by December 2026 we may still be saying: the fan is there, the visibility is there, the proof is there , but the market is still pricing women’s sport like a side‑hustle, not a core growth driver.

Fast‑forward to December and a hope

So let’s fast‑forward and write the version we hope to be wrong about:

• Asian Cup crowds were huge, social feeds were full, and Australian women’s teams across codes delivered again , but the majority of new money still flowed to men’s properties and mixed bundles.

• A few standout brands used women’s sport as their primary platform and reaped the rewards; most others treated it as a one‑off or “nice to have”.

• Athletes gained more followers and cultural clout, but too many were still stitching together short‑term deals and side jobs rather than enjoying the security their impact warrants.

That’s the trajectory the data suggests if nothing fundamental changes. And that’s exactly the scenario ISSM exists to challenge.

We’re ready and genuinely hoping to be proven wrong by the decisions Australian leaders make this year.

Source: https://www.womenssporttrust.com/the-visibility-of-womens-sport-hit-new-highs-in-2025/