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Two of the biggest myths in football are that English players don't dive and away teams never get a penalty at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium. Once upon a time, these may both have been true. Another popular fairy tale long past its sell-by date is that women hate football, with the consequence being that television will get the cold shoulder from them come World Cup time. But according to analysis by the various media and agency insight teams and market research companies, this presumption is simply no longer the case.

In fact, the results may shock the owners of female-oriented brands, many of which are considering deserting the small screen during the month-long tournament in Germany and switching their budgets to April and May, or to other media altogether.

"There is certainly a misconception that women are not interested in football and clients are very interested in the data that proves otherwise," says Carat's head of insight planning, Jeremy Paul.

"Many women watch games with their partner, or in a group, and advertisers need to understand this trend, but be clear about a woman's mindset when she is watching football. This means saying the right things about the right brands in this context."

According to TGI, 36% of women (8.9 million) now watch football on television, up from 16% in 2001, while 41% (10.1 million) claim to have an interest in the game.

Useful indicator

ITV's overall coverage of the World Cup in Japan and Korea in 2002 reached 84% of all women, even though kick-off times tended to be at unsociable times. However, a glance back to what happened during Euro 2004 in Portugal is probably a more useful indicator of how many women could be watching England's bid for global glory this June.

Indeed, according to researcher Sports Marketing Surveys, 42% of viewers watching Euro 2004 on television in the UK were female.

MindShare represents a number of clients which will aim to reach females during June, including cosmetic brand Dove, which advertised on TV during the previous World Cup finals.

Managing partner at MindShare Insights, Doreen Dignan, is convinced more women will be watching this World Cup than viewed the previous event or Euro 2004. "Our research shows almost one in four women watched at least three minutes of 10 or more matches in Portugal. The World Cup is a bigger tournament and the timing of the games will boost ratings overall, including among women," she says.

Carat Insight has pinpointed that the UK population fell into two distinct camps: Euro 2004-philes (36%) and Euro 2004-phobes (46%), with the remaining 18% not caring one way or the other. More than a quarter of the Euro 2004-philes were women, with 53% of them watching the final - and England were not even playing.

Of course, the level of attention during matches did differ between men and women, with 38% of men closely watching every ball kicked compared to 19% of women.

Another agency providing useful research for its female-brand clients, such as Revlon, is PHD. Head of media insights Jenny Lightfoot says only 2% of women really went out of their way to avoid the last World Cup and that around half of them watched at least three minutes of five matches.

"When the England team does well, it inspires everyone in the country and it is wrong to assume women will not be watching the national team on television," she says. "Also, the England players and even the manager are celebrities appearing regularly in the women's glossies and this will also draw in the non-core football audience."

At the end of February, OMD UK carried out an online survey to see how passionate women were about the forthcoming World Cup. The results suggest interest in football is crossing over age groups and is more accessible to women than four years ago, particularly among younger females. When asked whether they were passionate about football, 22% of women aged 25 to 34 said they were, compared with only 8% of those aged 35 to 44. Some 50% of women under 24 now identify themselves as England fans and 61% of all women questioned will be watching some matches. "When you look at who is in the crowds at games, it's still mainly men and this helps to perpetuate the myth, but football engages with women at home more than we may think," says head of OMD Insight Jo Rigby.

The large amount of research available to brands could certainly change the balance of female/male brands advertising during this World Cup compared with 2002. At the last tournament, 34 of the top 50 advertisers on ITV in June were male-biased: car, beer, finance or DIY brands, compared with only 12 during the same month last year when there was no major international football tournament. However, female brands that did book airtime during June 2002 included Unilever's Persil, retailer Boots and Dove.

One OMD UK client considering its agency's findings is hair removal brand Veet, whose core audience is women aged 16 to 34 and which counts June as one of its most important sales months. OMD UK associate director Simon Brockman says he will be looking again at the media strategy for Veet following the research.

"We buy women targets, but the cost of advertising around England games will probably still be too prohibitive for a brand like Veet despite the numbers of women it appears will be watching the football," he says.

The cost of advertising to women around World Cup matches may be the deciding factor for many brands. In June 2002, television revenue went up by 13% year on year, which offset the increase in male viewing generated by so much football that the price of men ratings actually fell by 1.3%. By contrast, the extra 13% was divided by a smaller number of female impacts, for which the price went up by 23.4% for housewives, 35.2% for housewives with children and 25.7% for women overall.

Rescheduling June's television money into April and May by female-oriented brands could also inflate the airtime prices in those months. This trend could prompt media agencies to switch more of their clients' money to other media such as magazines.

The PPA's consultant Tim Lucas says the media agencies he is talking to expect the cost of reaching women on television during June to increase by between 25% and 35% and that magazines will therefore be around five times cheaper for advertisers.

Red herring

"The number of women watching football is really a red herring for advertisers, because it is all about value for money," he says. "A brand could buy around six weeks of airtime on television or advertise to the same weight of women in magazines for six months."

IPC's advertising marketing manager, James Papworth, says agencies should use the NRS Readership Accumulation Study to plan their magazine ratings weekly in the same way they would TV. "ITV1 will again be very much wall-to-wall football in June and advertisers targeting female consumers will face higher prices and lower ratings - if they can get on air at all," he says.

Elsewhere, radio stations will also be working hard to encourage female brands during June. But Nick Hewat, sales director at Virgin Radio, says large brand owners such as P&G will still need a lot of convincing not to switch their FMCG radio advertising into May and leave June to be dominated by male brands.

Of course, there are still lots of women who do not like football and many brands will be looking to advertise on television during complementary programming. When an evening match is being shown on the BBC, ITV will be showing a drama or film. Other broadcasters too, such as the Flextech and UKTV channels, are planning packages for advertisers to reach female audiences not interested in the World Cup.

Yet, in reality, more women than advertisers perhaps realise have always liked watching football and can be just as passionate about the game as men, especially when the national team is playing. This is particularly true during the World Cup, when the media will be full of little else.

WHEN WOMEN WILL BE WATCHING

35% According to Sports Marketing Surveys, female viewers accounted for between 35% and 40% of the audience during television coverage of England's qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup.

3.5m SMS director John Bushell says this equates to as many as 3.5 million women watching England's group matches. Bushell adds: "It's clear the World Cup is a good mechanic for advertisers targeting women." But it all depends on how many people will be watching on commercial television ...

42% During Euro 2004, 42% of viewers watching on either channel in the UK were female. The BBC is still top dog when it comes to viewers of either sex though. According to MediaTel, 3.5 million people watched the England-Brazil game in 2002 on ITV, with 12.5 million watching it on the Beeb.