According to Initiative's most recent ViewerTrack, the growth in female viewing is such that the number of women watching each match is now almost equal to the number of men.
UK in-home TV audiences have grown steadily over the first three matches of England's 2006 campaign. England's first two victories against Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago averaged UK programme audiences of 8.8m viewers and 11.3m viewers respectively.
England's draw against Sweden on Tuesday attracted the highest UK audience of the World Cup so far with 14.4m viewers.
It is mainly women who are fuelling this audience growth. The UK audience for England's first match against Paraguay was 40% female, rising to 45% female for England v Trinidad & Tobago.
The female share of viewing has never been higher for any of England's matches in the last three World Cups than it was for England v Sweden -- 47% of the UK audience was female.
Why is the female viewing share rising in the UK? While many female fans are hardcore football supporters, women are more likely to be casual soccer fans than men. They are more likely to only be interested in football when it becomes a cultural event of national importance. With the media frenzy around the World Cup now in full force, these female viewers are being drawn to the pitch action.
As England progress into the knockout stages of the 2006 World Cup and overall levels of interest continue to rise, the female viewing share is likely to keep on rising.
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