Why is women's gymnastics the most watched Olympic sport?

Women's gymnastics delivered the largest TV audiences of Paris 2024, with NBC's Day 1 qualifications drawing 41.5M US viewers - the single largest audience of the Summer Olympics. NBC airs more primetime women's gymnastics than any other Olympic sport.

What is the commercial opportunity in women's gymnastics?

Women's gymnastics ranks as the #1 sport global female fans watch, generates the highest TV ratings among Olympic sports, yet lacks professional league infrastructure - creating massive untapped commercial potential.

How much primetime coverage does NBC give women's gymnastics?

NBC airs more primetime women's gymnastics than any other men's or women's Olympic sport, proving network confidence in audience demand and the sport's ability to draw the biggest primetime audiences.

How popular is women's gymnastics at the Olympic Games?

Women's artistic gymnastics is consistently one of the most watched Olympic sports. At Paris 2024, women's gymnastics delivered around 41 million US TV viewers on NBC for day one of qualifications and ranked among the top Olympic broadcasts. At Tokyo 2020, gymnastics reached an estimated 643 million global TV viewers.

Which networks carry Olympic women's gymnastics coverage?

In the United States, Olympic women's gymnastics is featured in primetime and daytime windows across NBC and streaming on Peacock, with additional coverage across NBCUniversal platforms. Internationally, coverage is distributed through broadcast partners working with the IOC and national Olympic committees.

Why is women's gymnastics such a strong commercial opportunity?

Women's gymnastics combines proven global TV demand, short form action that translates into social media and streaming clips and star athletes like Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Hezly Rivera and Jade Carey who reach large, highly engaged audiences. This creates powerful value for brands, sponsors and media partners.

Is there a professional women's gymnastics league today?

There is not yet a fully realized modern professional league for women's gymnastics. GIGA, the Global Impact Gymnastics Alliance, is building the sport's first pro level system so that Olympic medalists, world champions and NCAA stars can compete beyond the Games and college while brands and broadcasters can invest in a year round property.

How does social media enhance the value of women's gymnastics?

Routine level clips from team finals, all around finals and vault, bars, beam and floor events are naturally short, high impact and shareable. They perform strongly on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, where gymnasts and fans build audiences that keep the sport visible between Olympic cycles.

Women's Gymnastics: No. 1 Olympic Sport For Global Viewers | Commercial Opportunity Data

The Booming
Women's Sports
Economy

GIGA Perspectives

Women's gymnastics fans showing enthusiasm and support

Global professional sports revenue is projected to rise steadily from $510B to 658B 2024-2028

Bar chart total global men's and women's professional sport CAGR, growing 5.1% 2024-2028

Globally, the men's and women's total sports market is massive, and continues to grow steadily. At an estimated $500B in 2024, the category is projected to hit more than $650B by 2028, and representing a 5.1% CAGR. Sources: Yahoo, Deloitte

Women's Sports are booming, with explosive growth expected to accelerate

Global women’s sports revenue has surged from $0.35B in 2021 to an estimated $2.35B in 2025, reflecting explosive commercial growth. This trajectory represents a 60.6% CAGR, highlighting women’s sports as one of the fastest-growing segments in the global sports industry. Sources: RBC, TSB/BDO

As Transaction Valuations Continue to Reach Historic Highs, Early Investors Are Seeing Record Returns

Chart illustrative transaction valuation growth for women's sports

Deal valuations in women’s sports have accelerated sharply, with rising valuations signaling a re-pricing of women’s sports assets, with early backers capturing outsized returns as the market resets upward.
Disclaimer: ROI figures illustrative only, with estimates based on publicly available transaction data; not intended to be a comprehensive list, and does not reflect actual deal terms or outcomes

Women's Sports League Valuations are scaling Much Faster than Global Pro Sports: NWSL ~11x, WNBA ~27x

Women’s sports league valuations are seeing rapid growth across NWSL and WNBA

Deal valuations in women’s sports have accelerated sharply, with rising valuations signaling a re-pricing of women’s sports assets, with early backers capturing outsized returns as the market resets upward.
Sources: SportsPro, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Axios, Sports Business Journal

WNBA Valuations are Scaling Faster than the NBA At the Same Age

When adjusted for age, women's basketball is compounding value at a meaninfully faster pace than men's basketball. WNBA team transactions and expansion fees are acclerating meaterially faster than the NBA did at the same age, reaching a $250M expansion fee in year 28, versus roughly year 49 for the NBA.
Disclaimer: based on publicly available transaction data, with 2025 adjusted value per BLS CPI data; reflects growth starting in NBA's year one in 1946-47 vs. WNBA's year one in 1997

Media coverage is the growth engine; however, women’s TV rights deals have yet to catch up

Women’s sports league revenue by category chart showing media rights lagging other revenue streams despite rapid valuation and audience growth

Women's sports are booming, with huge growth in team/ league valuations, revenue growth, audience engagement, and outsized returns for early backers. However, media rights have not kept pace; broadcast economics trail where the leagues already are. Once TV rights catch up, they become a catalyst for sustained, ecosystem-wide expansion. Sources: SportsPro, RBC, Yahoo, ESPN

The ROI value of women's sports investments: driving the sponsor brand bottom line

Investing in women's sports is one of the most effective ways to reach and engage a high value audience to drive growth and brand value. Why? Women's Sports fans are uniquely engaged - they pay closer attention to brand investments in the content they watch and athletes they follow, and convert at higher rates, delivering brands stronger ROI on sponsor activation.
Sources: Canadian Women & Sport, TSB

Significantly stronger ad engagement among audiences watching women's sports

Women’s sports materially outperform conventional TV programs: ads that aired during women's sports events saw meaningfully stronger audience engagement vs. those aired during other non-sports related linear tv programs; categories that saw highest engagement include banking and tech during women's basketball, and packaged goods during women's gymnastics.
Sources: WPP Media, EDO, Adverteyes

← GIGA Insights Record growth for NCAA gymnastics →

Market Trend	Revenue Projection
Global Sports Revenue	$510B to $658B

League	Year to Reach $250M Fee
WNBA	Year 28
NBA	Year 49

GIGA Market Insight: Women's sports are growing very fast! The money they make is going up by over 60% every year. The WNBA is growing even faster than the NBA did when it was the same age. GIGA is the first to build a professional gymnastics league for these amazing athletes.

Brand Investment Metric	Performance Context
Sponsor ROI & Brand Value	Higher conversion & uniquely engaged audiences
Ad Engagement (Banking & Tech)	Highest engagement during Women's Basketball
Ad Engagement (Packaged Goods)	Highest engagement during Women's Gymnastics