According to the fourth edition of the study “The Visibility of Women Athletes in the Media” conducted by APPLE TREE and Rebold, women’s sports in 2024 achieved a 25% share of media visibility, compared to 75% for men’s sports. While this represents a decline of four percentage points versus 2023 ,a year marked by exceptional coverage following Spain’s victory at the Women’s World Cup — it is still a notable increase of 15 points since 2021, when the study was first carried out. In terms of awareness, women’s sports competitions reached 24%, down four points from 2023, but ten points higher than 2022. The data confirms a steady upward trend in media and audience interest in women’s sports in Spain.
Carme Miró, CEO and founder of APPLE TREE, commented on the results: “We are really pleased to see how women’s sports are gaining ground in the media, although there are still outlets where women’s achievements are not represented on equal terms with men’s. With this report, we want to highlight that this inequality must be corrected so that future stars of sport have role models they can look up to.”
Alfredo Orte, Intelligence Manager at Rebold, added during the report’s presentation in Madrid: “Overall, the evolution of women’s sports in Spanish media has been very positive in 2024. It is true that, if we focus on soccer, there are reasons not to be so optimistic and to lower expectations of achieving equal visibility and awareness, but in other sports the gender bias is increasingly less evident”.
The gender gap in soccer is improving but is still significant
Football, the King of Sports remains the most powerful driver of media coverage, and the study shows that the visibility and notoriety of women’s competitions are still relegated to the background in most outlets. For example, in 2024, FC Barcelona’s victory in the Women’s Champions League final achieved 28% visibility and 23% notoriety, compared to Real Madrid’s triumph in the men’s final, which dominated the headlines. The same pattern was seen during the Spanish Super Cup in January, where the women’s competition, despite featuring a clásico, represented just 16% of total visibility and 14% of awareness compared to the men’s tournament.
Television audiences also reflect this disparity. The women’s Champions League final attracted just over 1 million viewers, while the men’s final drew four times as many with more than 4.1 million. In the case of the Super Cup, the men’s broadcast registered three times the audience of the women’s.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">Hoy presentamos nuestro estudio sobre la visibilidad de las mujeres deportistas en los medios con <a href="https://twitter.com/LETSREBOLD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LETSREBOLD</a>. Desde el 2021, la visibilidad del deporte femenino en España ha crecido 15 puntos. ¡Vamos por buen camino! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IgualdadEnElDeporte?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IgualdadEnElDeporte</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/APPLETREEBYTES?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#APPLETREEBYTES</a> <a href="https://t.co/Qd8fKK3hZg">pic.twitter.com/Qd8fKK3hZg</a></p>— APPLE TREE (@appletreeagency) <a href="https://twitter.com/appletreeagency/status/1897276343542493216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Olympic Games, the gender gap is narrowing
While in soccer, men’s competitions continue to receive greater coverage, in contrast, other sports show a different picture. At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the gender gap narrowed considerably. In walking competitions, for example, the success of Spanish athletes María Pérez and Álvaro Marín received almost identical media impact — with Pérez even slightly ahead at 51% visibility and recognition compared to 49% for Marín. Similar patterns were observed in other events, where the bias in both media coverage and audience following was far less pronounced, suggesting that factors such as national pride or broader social interest may play a stronger role.
Women’s sports are in the spotlight in the sports media.
Another conclusion from the study is that many sports outlets still fail to dedicate sufficient space to women’s sports. Even so, titles like Mundo Deportivo, Sport, and AS stand out as the media publishing the most coverage of women’s competitions, both in print and online.
The visibility of female athletes in social networks is light years behind them.
Social media provides another measure of athletes’ relevance in society, and here, too, women face an uphill battle. Footballer Alisha Lehmann, with 29 million followers on her social networks, leads among female athletes, but this represents just 3% of Cristiano Ronaldo’s 934 million. A positive sign is the entry of Alexia Putellasinto the world top 10, with more than 4 million followers, ranking ninth among female athletes globally. In Spain, the most-followed sportswomen are dominated by footballers, with the top five positions held by: Alexia Putellas; Aitana Bonmatí; Garbiñe Muguruza; Paula Badosa; and Carolina Marín.
About the study: The visibility of female athletes in the media
In order to carry out the study ‘The visibility of women athletes in the media’, analyzed over 96,000 media articles published in Spain during 2024. A representative sample of male and female competitions was selected to enable direct comparison of media impact and audience following.
