UK pulls in female audience for World Cup

England's World Cup matches are attracting more women, writes Kevin Alavy, senior analyst at Initiative Futures.

According to Initiative's most recent ViewerTrack, the growth in female viewing has made it so the number of women watching each match is almost equal to the number of men.

In-home TV audiences in the United Kingdom have grown steadily over England's first three matches. England 's victories against Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago averaged audiences of 8.8 million and 11.3 million viewers respectively.

England's draw against Sweden Tuesday attracted the highest audience of the World Cup with 14.4 million viewers.

Women who are behind the ratings rise. The United Kingdom audience for England's match against Paraguay was 40 percent female, rising to 45 percent versus Trinidad & Tobago.

The female share of viewing has never been higher for any of England's matches in the past three World Cups than it was for England against Sweden, with 47 percent of the United Kingdom audience was female.

While many female fans are hardcore football supporters, women are more likely to be casual fans than men. They are more likely to be interested when it becomes a cultural event of national importance. With the media frenzy around the World Cup now in full force, female viewers are being drawn to the action.

As England progress into the knockout stages of the 2006 World Cup and overall levels of interest continue to rise, the female viewing share is likely to keep on rising.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.