In April 2023, more than 83,000 fans filled Wembley Stadium to watch England take on Brazil in the inaugural Women’s Finalissima. The match ended in a penalty shootout. England won. It was a landmark occasion, another sign of growing public appetite for the women’s game.
Yet, between major tournaments and finals, the visibility of women’s sport still lags. In 2024, only 6% of prime-time UK sports broadcasts featured women’s-only events, despite accounting for 15% of total viewing hours.
Closing that gap was the focus of a recent event hosted by TikTok. Held at Level 42 in London, the event brought together athletes, content creators, publishers, and brands to explore how platforms like TikTok are helping to build year-round visibility.
Once seen primarily as an entertainment platform, TikTok has become a key channel for athletes and organisations seeking to build direct relationships with fans, drive revenue, and reach audiences outside traditional broadcast schedules.
Data presented at the event showed that Chelsea Women generated more TikTok views in 2024 than any other dedicated women’s sports account globally, with 167 million views. That performance placed them ahead of all but eight Premier League men’s clubs.
Athletes, too, are building visibility beyond traditional coverage. Charlotte Worthington, a BMX rider and Olympic medallist, was the most-viewed female UK athlete on TikTok in 2024, ahead of established football names like Mary Earps and Ella Toone. These figures highlight the role of platform-native content in surfacing talent and expanding fan reach beyond the mainstream
Athletes as creators
One of the clearest shifts in the current media landscape is the way athletes are building visibility independently. The traditional model — waiting for broadcasters or sponsors to elevate an athlete’s profile — is giving way to a more direct approach.
Mary Earps, speaking on stage with British long jumper and broadcaster Jazmin Sawyers, reflected on how her content journey began after being dropped from the national squad in 2019. “I met my commercial agent,” she said, “and she basically said, TikTok is the ultimate platform. If you want to leave a legacy, you need to be on there”.
Since then, Earps has built a large and loyal following by sharing everyday moments — from team routines to missed alarms and broken-down cars. The style is light and informal, but the impact is significant. In 2024, she ranked as the third most-viewed UK female athlete on TikTok, with over 56 million views.
Importantly, this trend is not limited to household names. Freda Ayisi, who plays for Hashtag United in the National League — several tiers below the Women’s Super League — generated more TikTok views than all WSL players and teams combined. Her skills-based videos, including challenges and tutorials, reached more than 436 million views in 2024 alone.
This suggests that the platform is levelling the playing field — not just between men’s and women’s sport, but between elite and non-elite athletes.
New publishers, new models
It’s not only athletes who are adapting to this shift. Publishers and leagues are also rethinking their strategies, recognising that traditional formats — match reports, studio analysis, post-game interviews — are no longer enough to grow or retain audiences.
During a panel session Paula Hughes, Chief Digital Officer at Togethxr, outlined how the US-based media platform was built to address a clear gap. “Women’s sports were either covered as elite, capital-S sport, or tied to wellness,” she said. “There was no space for the culture in between”.
Togethxr, founded by athletes including Simone Manuel and Sue Bird, now produces a range of short-form content across multiple sports. Much of it focuses on identity, personality, and lifestyle. It’s not built around fixtures but around people.
“TikTok has been huge for us. Users are consuming our content at higher rates than during the actual season.” – Chloe Pavlech
Unrivaled, a new 3-on-3 basketball league co-founded by WNBA players, follows a similar approach. Each of the league’s six teams includes a dedicated social media specialist as part of its core staff. “We treat them like the seventh player,” said Chloe Pavlech, Unrivaled’s Chief Growth Officer. “Their job is to be embedded, not just to film content, but to build trust. That’s what makes the content real”.
The data supports this strategy. In Q1 2025, US publishers like Just Women’s Sports and Togethxr drove 359 million and 62 million TikTok views respectively, far outpacing legacy media brands. UK publishers, by contrast, have only begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible.
From reach to revenue
As audience engagement grows, so does commercial interest. A key theme running through both the report and the event was that visibility is no longer just about fairness.
According to research published by the Women’s Sport Trust in late 2024, 80% of surveyed brand decision-makers said they were likely to invest in women’s sport over the next one to three years. Clubs and individual athletes were identified as key targets for this investment.
Importantly, TikTok is not simply offering reach. It is enabling athletes and organisations to convert attention into value — through merchandise, direct-to-fan ticketing, and content partnerships. “It’s not just a platform for branding,” said one speaker. “It’s where commercial activity is happening.”
Athletes such as Angel Reese and Ilona Maher, who feature among the most prolific creators in the SportsPro Top 50, have also used the platform to build commercial profiles that rival top male athletes — and, in some cases, outperform major entertainment figures. Maher’s 2024 TikTok views placed her ahead of artists like Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.
This shift challenges long-held assumptions in sports marketing. It also places a premium on authenticity. As several speakers noted, audiences respond best when content feels personal, spontaneous, and unfiltered. That is difficult to achieve through traditional media deals alone.
What comes next?
TikTok’s impact on women’s sport is no longer speculative. The platform is delivering visibility, engagement, and revenue; often in ways traditional channels have struggled to match. But the question now is how to build on that momentum.
From next season, players in the Barclays Women’s Super League will have access to rights-cleared footage for the first time, allowing them to create and share match content directly from their own accounts. This change could mark a significant turning point, opening the door to a new wave of athlete-led storytelling.
The opportunity is clear, but so is the responsibility. As one speaker noted during the event, “Progress doesn’t happen by accident. It takes intention.” For clubs, brands and broadcasters, that means making room – not just for more content, but for the right kinds of content: personal, consistent, and aligned with what fans are already showing they value.
It also means rethinking how success is measured. Traditional broadcast metrics may no longer tell the full story. As the Women’s Sport Trust data shows, short-form engagement is now central to how visibility is earned and commercial value is created.
If there is a message to take away, it is that women’s sport is no longer waiting to be noticed. It is building its own audience, on its own terms and in doing so, reshaping what sports media looks like.
“For me, TikTok has always been a platform where I can be unapologetically myself. My personality doesn’t align with other platforms the way it does with TikTok.” – mary earps
