WSL: Record numbers for Super League: 1.1 million tune in for Chelsea match
Chelsea’s 5-1 win over Liverpool in the Women’s Super League (WSL) with 1.1 million people tuning into BBC 1 on Saturday.
It marks the first WSL match to pass the 1 million mark for viewing figures whilst the game also recorded the highest ever average audience of 765,000.
There was a peak audience of 955,000 and a further 141,000 requests to watch the match on BBC iPlayer.
Sky Sports also saw their highest-ever viewership for a WSL game with a peak of 589,000 watching Sunday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, with an average viewership of 485,000 also a record.
There has been a steady growth in viewership for the women’s domestic game in England, with the Lionesses’ fixtures helping to usher in big viewership.
Twelve million people watched England lose out to Spain in this summer’s World Cup final on BBC1, which made it the second-most viewed event of 2023 after the Coronation of King Charles III.
The broadcaster also registered 25.7 million stream requests across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport Online. A further 2.6 million people watched the final on rival broadcaster ITV.
The Euro 2022 final, which saw England beat Germany in extra-time, was also watched by 17.4million on BBC1.