BeIN Sports, the international pay-TV sports broadcaster, attracted a cumulative audience of 93.5 million for soccer’s 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The Qatar-based operator exclusively covered all 64 games of the tournament in the region and offered dual-language broadcasts in both Arabic and English.
The final, in which Spain defeated England 1-0 to claim their first World Cup title, was watched by almost 5 million viewers in the MENA region.
Several key matches from the tournament held in Australia and New Zealand, including the semi-finals and final, along with the opening and closing ceremonies, were broadcast on BeIN Sports’ free-to-air channel.
Mohammad Al-Subaie, chief executive of BeIN MENA, said: “This year’s Women’s World Cup expanded from 24 teams to 32 teams, yet what we have witnessed this past month shows that not only is interest growing in the region, but the way fans follow the game is evolving too.
“With a cumulative viewership of over 93 million tuning into our linear coverage from across the region, the growth of women’s football is undeniable, and we are very proud to be helping drive that.”
In New Zealand, pay-TV broadcaster Sky attracted a record average audience of 2.2 million for the WWC.
The tournament drew huge audiences on both sides of the Tasman with record numbers watching on TV and attending the 64 matches.
There were large viewing figures in other key markets such as the UK where public-service broadcaster the BBC secured 21.2 million as a total audience across the WWC, while there were 25.7 million live streams on BBC iPlayer and the various BBC online and social platforms.
In Spain, public-service broadcaster RTVE attracted an average audience figure of 1.3 million viewers, with over 12.6 million having tuned into coverage of the WWC at some point.
Meanwhile, coverage of the 32-team tournament on RTE in Ireland reached 2.4 million people.
In the US, however, overall viewership for the World Cup dropped 60% from the previous edition in 2019 after the country’s earlier-than-expected departure.
English-language coverage averaged 669,000 viewers across national network Fox and its FS1 channel, down from 1.66 million in 2019.
