Over 16 million people tuned in to watch the England women's football team, fondly known as the Lionesses, clinch victory at the Euro 2025. The tournament saw record-breaking viewership across various platforms, demonstrating a growing interest in women's football.
BBC1’s coverage of the final game peaked at an impressive 11.6 million viewers, accounting for 59% of the total TV audience during that time. An additional 4.2 million streams were recorded on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, with a reported peak of 12.2 million across both linear broadcasting and streaming platforms.
ITV’s linear broadcast also had its moment in the spotlight with just over four million viewers tuning in during peak times - specifically at around 7:45 pm when England was securing their win. On average, ITV attracted an audience of approximately 2.2 million while BBC1 drew nearly three times that number with an average audience of about 6.9 million.
Digital platforms see significant engagement
The tournament was streamed a staggering total of over 15.5 million times across iPlayer and BBC Sport digital platforms alone; notably, one-fifth (20%) of these streams came from younger audiences aged between 16-35 years old.
BBC Sport's social media accounts also saw significant engagement throughout the tournament with a whopping total view count reaching up to231million views across all channels combined. TikTok emerged as a popular platform among fans; it accounted for almost half (45%) or approximately104million views out of all social media views recorded by BBC Sport during this period.
Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport, said:
“This final was a landmark moment in sporting history. The kind of moment people will remember exactly where they were when they watched it. The incredible Lionesses took us on an emotional rollercoaster, and millions were hooked on BBC coverage from start to finish – from live streaming post-match analysis to millions following our live page and younger audiences in huge numbers on social media”.
“Just because the tournament stops there, our coverage doesn’t. We’ve got live WSL matches every match week, highlights, clips and more from next season, and you can follow everything on our Women’s Football TikTok.”
One particular clip featuring Lucy Bronze strapping her own leg during their quarter-final match against Sweden became viral sensation - it garnered over12.5million views across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
Younger audiences show interest
BBC Sport’s Women’s Football TikTok account saw a surge in younger audiences over the last four weeks of the tournament. A significant 76% of its audience was under 34 years old (39.3% under 24s, and 36.7% aged between 25-34).
The BBC Sport website and app recorded 16 million unique users keeping up to date with news throughout the tournament. Furthermore, over10million signed-in accounts accessed Women’s Euro content across all BBC digital services - an increase of 15% from Euro2022.
This year's viewership surpassed that of previous tournaments; 14.4 million had tuned into watch the Lionesses’ defeat in the final match at the 2023 Women’s World Cup while 17.5 million watched them win their last Euros. The record-breaking numbers indicate a growing popularity for women's football among sports fans and sports betting enthusiasts alike.
