Fox expects 50% increase in UEFA Women’s Euros viewership

Fox’s big bet on women’s soccer will be put to the test beginning this week.

The network will start airing the UEFA Women’s Euros on Wednesday, having won the rights to the event last year. Previously, ESPN held U.S. broadcast rights for the tournament. But unlike previous iterations of the event on ESPN, Fox will be giving the Women’s Euros some prime television real estate.

Fox will air 19 matches on its broadcast network, 11 on FS1, and just one on FS2. In terms of broadcast exposure, the Women’s Euros will rival Fox’s coverage of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. During that tournament, which featured many more games, Fox placed 29 matches on its broadcast network. Given the time zone differences in Australia and New Zealand, where the 2023 World Cup was hosted, many of those windows fell during the overnight hours in the United States. The Women’s Euros, however, will primarily air in mid-afternoon time slots.

With increased exposure, Fox Sports’ president of insights and analytics, Mike Mulvihill, believes the tournament is in for a significant viewership boost. Speaking with Mollie Cahillane of Sports Business Journal, Mulvihill indicated the tournament could see a 50% increase in viewership.

“Nineteen matches on broadcast versus zero for previous editions? We’re going to see an even greater percentage increase. I think 50% is a pretty good target,” the Fox exec said. “We’re obviously leaning into broadcast as hard as we can for this tournament,” he added.

Mulvihill suggests that the turning point for the network’s women’s soccer coverage came during the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, when Fox and Telemundo combined to average 26.7 million viewers during the U.S.-Japan final, the most-watched soccer match in U.S. television history.

“Since then, we’ve seen tremendous stories, but I do think that tournament triggered something that helped get us to where we are now,” Mulvihill told SBJ.

Without the popular USWNT, it’d be unfair to expect crazy viewership numbers from Fox for this summer’s Euros. However, given the sport’s global growth in recent years and Fox’s commitment to providing the tournament with broadcast network exposure, Mulvihill’s 50% target seems well within reach.