Record-breaking Women’s Champions League final viewership

Lyon’s upset victory over holders Barcelona in the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) final attracted a record audience.

DAZN, which has culminated the first year of its landmark distribution deal with UEFA, said that the match attracted a record setting live cumulative viewership of 3.6 million globally across DAZN, DAZN’s UWCL YouTube channel, and 11 free-to-air channels in Europe.

The audience was up 56% from the 2021 final between Barcelona and Chelsea, which was broadcast in the UK by BT Sport. 

The sports streamer said that its coverage of the UWCL’s 61 matches this season attracted 64 million views on DAZN and its UWCL YouTube channel from over 230 countries and territories. It carried a total of 168 broadcast feeds in 11 different languages, with the last three months of the season seeing more than 12.3 million unique visitors to DAZN’s UWCL YouTube channel to watch the knockout round fixtures, final, and original content. 

Shay Segev, CEO, DAZN Group, said: “This first season as the global broadcaster of the UWCL has been a tremendous success and reflects DAZN’s commitment to close the coverage gap between women’s and men’s sports. We are invigorated about Year Two and look forward to engaging even more audiences as we further contribute towards building popularity in women’s football.”    

Nadine Kessler, Chief of Women’s Football, UEFA, said: “Our first season of the revamped UEFA Women’s Champions League has been an amazing success story. We have seen clubs playing in their big stadiums, attendance records being broken across several clubs and countries – and even a world record for an official women’s match broken twice at the iconic Camp Nou, where over 90,000 fans turned up and made history. Together with DAZN and YouTube, who streamed all matches for free to a global audience, we managed to give the women’s game the exposure it deserves. 

“Through this we keep changing perceptions. The mutual investment together with our broadcast and sponsorship partners and clubs is the basis for inspiring young girls and boys to follow the game and to dream of becoming professionals themselves. As a former player myself, I also know how motivating it is for the players of this generation to get this increased level of attention. The final in Turin was a very special occasion and we can’t wait for next season, when the road to Eindhoven begins.”