A record 46.7 million people watched women’s sport on television in 2023, new research has found.

The total for 2023 was one million higher than the previous best in 2019.

“Women’s sport is attracting more younger, female fans which is great news for the industry,” said Tammy Parlour – the CEO and co-founder of Women’s Sports Trust.

“It shows we are starting to attract a distinctive fanbase. The more we can understand the motivation driving their connection with live women’s sports, the more this will enable us to build richer experiences for them in and out the stadium, and ultimately deepen their fandom.”

The figures reflect the number of people who watched televised women’s sport for at least one minute over the year, with the average viewing time increasing by 16% to 10 hours seven minutes,

Football was the most popular sport, with 74% of viewing hours.

England’s defeat by Spain in the Women’s World Cup final was watched by 12 million viewers on BBC One, with an overall audience of 21.2 million watching the BBC’s TV coverage of the tournament.

The most-watched women’s sport event on pay TV was day three of golf’s Solheim Cup, with Team Europe retaining the trophy by drawing with Team USA in Andalucia, Spain.

TikTok has driven the biggest increase in video views, the report said, with the Women’s Super League (WSL) the leading domestic women’s league on the platform after a 268% rise to 150 million views.

More people attended women’s sport events in 2023 than 2022, too, with that figure rising from 2.1 million to 2.6 million, according to data provided by marketing agency Two Circles.

“The industry needs to capitalise on these opportunities to drive further awareness and engagement,” said Parlour.