New case study shows resilient visibility for women’s rugby
New case study shows resilient visibility for women’s rugby
Sport NZ has released a new case study analysing media coverage of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, as part of the Sport NZ-Isentia gender balance in sports news study in Aotearoa New Zealand.
It’s encouraging to see the consistency in volume of coverage for the 2022 and 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup tournaments, especially considering last year's tournament was offshore and the Black Ferns finished third.
Key findings from the report:
- The Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 accounted for 25% of all sports news coverage during the tournament period, which matches the level of coverage for the 2022 event. This consistency is significant because the 2022 event was hosted in New Zealand and won by the Black Ferns, while this tournament was hosted in England and the Black Ferns finished third.
- However, the coverage was highly concentrated around game days, but less sustained across the tournament as a whole, creating spikes in coverage.
- Media coverage favoured the All Blacks over the Black Ferns, even when results favoured the women. Across 13-14 September, the All Blacks loss to South Africa received 35% of media coverage, compared to 30% for the Black Ferns win over South Africa on the same day.
- Rugby union accounted for over half of all sports stories during the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 period, with the men’s game receiving 56% of coverage compared to 44% for women.
- Coverage of women’s sport overall during the tournament period was 42%, up from 38% during the 2022 tournament period. However, this increase was driven mainly by sports like tennis, athletics and rowing, which also had major events and tournaments running at the same time.
The patterns of coverage affect gender balance in different ways. Concentrated game day coverage, such as that seen during the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, builds short-term visibility during high interest moments. Steady coverage across a tournament helps maintain engagement with the women’s game.
Sport NZ and Isentia will continue monitoring gender representation in sports media to support evidence-based advocacy, sector planning and visibility across women’s sport.
Dive into the insights below to learn more.
