The Chronicle of Cultural Misandry: More Men Than Women Watch Women's Soccer, While Women Prefer Male Sports.
More Men Than Women Watch Women's Soccer, While Women Prefer Male Sports.
'What sports do women watch on T.V.? Yes, Abby Wambach in the women's World Cup and Serena Williams in the women's final at the U.S. Open were popular picks this year. But soccer and tennis still pale next to football, basketball, baseball and yes, Nascar. (men's versions all, save for the occasional female race car driver).
Females account for more than a third of 14 million-plus people that tune into major events like the NBA Finals, World Series, Daytona 500, and Stanley Cup Finals, according to data from Nielsen. And as for the granddaddy sporting event of the year, the Super Bowl, the 2011 figure jumps to 45.9% of the game's 111 million viewers, or some 50 million women cheering on the Steelers or Packers.
The NFL shop online puts out an entire line of female-targeted merchandise for every team. Maybe it's time to lay the term "football widow" to rest.
"I don't think people realize how big a percentage is women," says Stephen Master, a Nielsen Vice President. And it's not all that new of a trend – Master notes that women have been a big part of the viewing audience for the better part of the last decade, at least for the major events.
Meantime, 5.2 million women tuned into the Women's World Cup final between Japan and the U.S. (compared to 8.3 million men), making it the fifth-most viewed sporting event among females. The U.S. quarterfinal match against Brazil also squeezes onto the top ten list, just head of both the men's and women's Wimbledon finals, with 1.2 million female viewers (again, there were many more male viewers).
The quarterfinal actually outdrew the U.S. soccer team's semifinal match against France one round later, which shows the attraction of a powerful opponent. Women's soccer, though, proved no different than men's baseball, hockey or hoops – all rely on a solid female audience of 30% or so to complement a viewership that's predominantly male. Even the recent U.S. Open Women's final , won by Samantha Stosur overSerena Williams, had slightly more male viewers (2.7 million) than female (2.4 million).