WSL triples viewership after move to YouTube

Avatar
Image credit: Jason Ilagan / Shutterstock.com

Viewership for Women’s Super League (WSL) matches streamed live on YouTube has more than trebled during the 2024/25 season.

This success is no coincidence. Beyond the clear rise in quality and star power across teams for the 2024/25 season, it’s also the first time in league history that non-televised games are streamed for free on YouTube.

Last season, the main issue with viewership was accessibility, where matches not picked up by domestic broadcasters were only available on the FA Player app or website, requiring users to create an account on a platform that was already unpopular.

In the 2023/24 season, the highest viewership for an online-only WSL game was Arsenal’s home fixture against Bristol City, which attracted 78,050 viewers.

However, this season has already shattered records. Over 250,000 fans tuned in on YouTube to watch Leicester face Arsenal in September, setting a new high for a WSL game not televised.

In total, the first three weeks of this season have seen a staggering 1,576,848 live views for WSL matches streamed on YouTube.

Women’s Championship matches have also benefited from the platform, with the season opener between newly promoted Newcastle and London City Lionesses setting a new record for the league, drawing 46,050 live viewers.

This spike in viewership comes at a crucial time for both the WSL and the Championship, as they are holding out for a new broadcasting rights deal set to begin after 2025. Both leagues smartly delayed signing earlier this year to avoid locking into a premature agreement.

The gamble absolutely paid off and the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), now in charge of the top two leagues, will be using these numbers as leverage in discussions over the next major TV rights deal which should include the BBC and Sky Sports amongst other suitors.

Streaming must remain free for A-League Women’s growth 

The A-League Women’s impressively saw a 114% increase in viewership on 10 Play, where every game is streamed for free, and 125% on Paramount+ for the 2023/24 season.

While a switch to YouTube seems unlikely given Channel 10’s monopoly over A-League football, it’s crucial to keep every game available for free on 10 Play if they want viewership to continue rising.

As the WSL and previously the NWSL have demonstrated, offering free streamed games draws in viewers of all ages and ultimately helps turn them into paying fans. The league’s primary focus should be on building an audience as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

The impressive figures from this season suggest that the demand for women’s football is only increasing.

The WSL has made a brilliant move that is sure to enhance the upcoming record-breaking broadcast rights deal, helping the league continue to improve both on and off the field.

The next step is to take it mainstream, and the Ninja A-League should look to follow the blueprint set by the WSL, which has demonstrated how to rapidly gain widespread popularity.

Previous ArticleNext Article

Filopoulos: Football Must Move Beyond Campaigns to Win Fans for Good

Avatar
Image Credit: Perth Glory

Global marketing and advisory firm Bastion has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Peter Filopoulos as Managing Director, Experience. This decision brings one of Australian football’s most influential administrators into a new phase of the sports business landscape.

Filopoulos, who has held senior roles across Football Australia, Football Victoria and Perth Glory, will lead Bastion’s experiential and partnerships division, applying a football-informed lens to brand engagement.

Drawing on his time in the game, Filopoulos emphasised the importance of cohesion in building meaningful fan connections.

“For me, the biggest lesson is that fans don’t see brand, content and experience as individual silos, they experience it all as one connected ecosystem,” he said.

“At Football Australia, the work resonated most when everything was aligned; the team, the narrative, the partners and the matchday experience all working together to feel cohesive and authentic. That’s when engagement moves beyond interaction and becomes something far more meaningful.”

He added that too many organisations still treat fan engagement as short-term.

“Where a lot of organisations fall short is treating fan engagement as a campaign. It’s not, it’s an always-on system.”

Filopoulos’ move reflects a broader shift within football, where commercial growth is increasingly driven by experience-led strategy.

“At Bastion, we put experience at the centre—because it’s where the brand comes to life, where partners integrate in a way that adds real value and where fans genuinely connect,” he said.

“Our focus is on building platforms that bring fans closer to the brand… Get that right, and you’re creating something people actively want to be part of.”

Pushing for First Nations representation in the game with Football Queensland’s Murri Cup

Avatar
Image Credit: Football Queensland

Football Queensland has announced the inaugural FQ Murri Cup, a two-day tournament celebrating First Nations cultures and showcasing Indigenous football talent from across Queensland, to be held at Nudgee Recreation Reserve on November 28 and 29.

The competition, developed in close consultation with Football Australia’s National Indigenous Advisory Group and Football Australia’s General Manager of First Nations Courtney Fewquandie, will feature a Coles MiniRoos activation, a Charles Perkins XI Talent ID session and a community stallholder zone alongside the on-field competition. Expressions of interest are open now for individuals and teams across the state.

More than a tournament

The launch arrives at a moment when the structural underrepresentation of First Nations Australians in organised sport, at the administrative, coaching, and pathway levels, is under sustained scrutiny. Football, like most codes, has historically failed to build the kind of community-embedded structures that make sustained Indigenous participation possible rather than incidental.

The FQ Murri Cup is a direct response to that gap. By centering First Nations culture within the competition itself, rather than treating it as supplementary to a standard football event, the tournament signals a shift in how the game positions Indigenous participation as a community with its own relationship to the sport that deserves its own platform.

The inclusion of a Talent ID session carries specific weight. Structured pathways into elite football have not always been accessible to players from regional and remote Indigenous communities, where geography, cost and cultural barriers compound one another. Embedding that opportunity within a culturally safe environment lowers the threshold at the point where it most frequently closes.

“The FQ Murri Cup will bring together First Nations players, families and communities for a two-day celebration, providing a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of First Nations participants within our game,” said Football Queensland CEO Robert Cavallucci.Mu

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks