The discovery, made by hospitality online booking service DesignMyNight, represented a victory for the women’s game in terms of recognition.
Despite a narrow loss to an impressive Spain team that won 1-0, research has found after the Lionesses qualified for the final, the booking platform witnessed a 750% increase in searches for the Women’s World Cup alongside a 138% jump in bookings compared to the previous Sunday and a 40% increase in bookings the day after the semi-finals when England saw off Australia 3-1 to end the host’s football final dream.
Gage interest
Senior marketing manager Leighanne Bent said: “We’ve had our eyes on the Women’s World Cup for quite some time, especially after England’s performance in last year’s Euros.
“We wanted to gauge our users’ interest quite early in the year and we were excited to find out that 59.4% would reserve a space for the final if England made it through with more than 50% of respondents stating they’d have more than three alcoholic drinks while out, which is what we’re seeing reflected in Sunday’s data.”
Attitudes changing
Bent continued: “Attitudes to women’s sport are changing and we’re finally starting to see the dial move in the right direction, but there’s a long way to go.
“This year’s final had its own challenges due to the time difference, which had an impact on screening parties when compared to the men’s, but one group that capitalised on the opportunity was Boxpark. They sold out of 2,500 tickets in eight minutes for their three sites in London proving there’s appetite for real-life events.”
Some 69.3% of DesignMyNight users surveyed had not watched the Women’s World Cup in previous years but, interestingly, 81.8% of respondents responded that they would be tuning in in 2023.
