Sky Sports has announced plans to increase its commitment to women’s sport in 2020 by expanding its existing coverage and strengthening its digital output.
The broadcaster’s live coverage of women’s sport will be showcased to new audiences via Sky Sports YouTube channel, enabling them to watch and engage with some of the world’s best female athletes.
This initiative supported by a full schedule of live coverage across Sky Sports channels, including Main Event, Action, Arena, Cricket, Golf and Sky Sports Mix, which will show a number of key events this year.
Events such as England’s matches in the Women’s Six Nations, WNBA basketball, Netball Superleague and women’s cricket will be among those to be made available for free via YouTube.
Sky Sports has also committed to invest in more new and original programming and digital content focussing on women’s sport.
So far in 2020, Sky Sports has live streamed weekly matches from the Netball Superleague, with plenty more to come, including women’s major golf tournaments, and the Women’s Six Nations, which is set to reach an exciting climax on 15 March.
Over decades of committing to high quality coverage, Sky Sports has seen women’s sport reach more fans than ever before, with sporting icons such as Katie Taylor and Fallon Sherrock bringing in big audiences.
24 years since first broadcasting women’s cricket back in June 1996, more than 1.8 million people watched England’s victory in the 2017 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s.
Sky Sports was also the first broadcaster to show regular netball coverage in 2004, and over the following 16 years popularity has visibly increased as viewing figures saw 550,000 people tune in to watch as England’s Vitality Roses were beaten in a thrilling Netball World Cup semi-final last year.
Commenting on its decision to open up its women’s sports coverage to a wider audience, Rob Webster, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said:
“Sky Sports has been a long-standing partner and champion of women’s sport and this is a natural next step to ensure that brand new audiences are able to connect with the drama and excitement created by the players and teams.
“Sky Sports News will continue to be at the heart of this pledge and will ensure consistent 24-hour editorial coverage of women’s sport across both linear and digital platforms. The evolution will mean no longer grouping women’s sport collectively in a standalone programme each week, but instead ensuring it is represented across our output in our rolling 24-hour coverage.
“We appreciate the responsibility we have, we know the platforms we own help sports grow and prosper, this is an important step in the right direction for our all-round coverage of women’s sport.”
By increasing its digital content output, Sky Sports promises bring audiences to the heart of the drama, telling the untold stories through a range of exclusive interviews, heated debates and long form content across all our platforms.
Georgina Faulkner, Sky Sports’ head of multi-sport, added:
“Sky Sports are investing in a 360 approach to covering women’s sport.
“The live streaming will bring fans closer to the action, the 24/7 rolling Sky Sports News coverage will keep fans constantly updated and our world-class digital production and storytelling will peel back the layers of women’s sport like never-before.
“This digital-led initiative will bring more sporting stories to new audiences with the ambition of creating long-term connections for both existing and future generations.”
A new ‘Extraordinary Women’ series, ‘Training with MMA Star Leah McCourt’ and behind the scenes with Lucy Bronze ‘My Life in Lyon’ are just a few of the special programmes and features to look out for on Sky Sports in 2020.
