The Guardian has learned that every Women’s Championship match will be streamed live on the league’s YouTube channel starting from the next season. This change will result in a significant increase in live coverage, with all fixtures being available live, compared to the current practice of showing only one match per gameweek. Sources indicate that the production of these matches will include a minimum of two cameras to offer multiple viewing angles, enhancing the experience over the current single-camera setup.
Sky Sports retains the option to select Championship games for live broadcast, as stipulated in their five-year shared domestic television deal with BBC Sport for the Women’s Super League, announced on October 30. However, any games chosen by Sky will also be streamed on YouTube, ensuring that all 132 matches in the season will be accessible live and free-to-air.
The Guardian understands that the tender process for the production of these live streams is set to commence within the next week. This season, 11 second-tier fixtures have already been streamed live on YouTube, with the local derby between Sunderland and Newcastle attracting the highest viewership of 81,313 live viewers during the 90-minute match.
In the top tier, WSL matches not selected by Sky or the BBC have also been streamed on YouTube, marking a departure from previous seasons where they were broadcast on the FA Player. This shift coincided with the management of the top two women’s leagues being transferred to a new entity, temporarily named Women’s Professional Leagues Limited. The Guardian reported in October that online viewing figures for WSL games had tripled since this change. The highest live audience for a WSL game on YouTube this season was 271,502 viewers for Manchester United’s victory at Leicester City on November 17, surpassing the previous season’s peak of 78,050 live viewers for Arsenal versus Bristol City on the FA Player.
Source link: https://www.theguardian.com
