‘Next season is about going further’: PWR promise more growth after record-breaking campaign

Average attendances in Premiership Women’s Rugby grew by almost a quarter across the 2025/26 league campaign.

Now branded JAECOO PWR, the league saw the average attendances of its nine clubs grow by 23.4 per cent year-on-year.

Additionally the league saw its social following sky-rocket 132 per cent and there were 111 million views registered across the competition’s YouTube, Meta and TikTok accounts. This is a 174 per cent increase on the previous season.

Over the past 12 months, PWR has put together structures to measure fan engagement; including a Fan Engagement Report, Fan Forum Summary, Fan Survey Study and PWR Final Review.

Genevieve Shore, PWR Executive Chair, said: “It’s been a really encouraging year for the league. We can see growth across so many different areas of the business, and that gives us confidence that the work we’re doing is truly connecting with fans.

“But I think it’s important that we are also honest about the context around those numbers. We had an unusually high starting point coming into this season, and so we are especially pleased that we can continue growing at this scale.”

The PWR season took place hot on the heels of the best-attended Women’s Rugby World Cup event ever staged. Hosted in England, John Mitchell’s Red Roses won the tournament on home soil in front of a world record crowd at Allianz Stadium.

Shortly afterward the domestic league season started and saw an immediate increase in attendance and overall interest in the competition.

In June, Saracens ended their four year wait for a domestic crown with victory in the Twickenham Stoop final against Trailfinders Women.

This growth has also happened after the departure of superstar Ilona Maher. When the most-followed rugby player on social media signed for Bristol Bears in the 2024/25 season, global interest in PWR peaked and started another period of growth for the league.

The new PWR league season will start on Friday 20 November when Loughborough Lightning host Trailfinders Women. Between April and May the competition will take a break for the 2027 Guinness Women’s Six Nations. The final is scheduled to take place on Saturday 26 June at an unspecified venue.

Shore said: “Next season is about going further. We want more fans coming through the gates. We want to engage more people digitally. We want to make the broadcast experience better. We want to keep listening to supporters and acting on what they tell us.

“And we want the fan experience to be something that people associate with the JAECOO PWR – something that feels open, welcoming, exciting and genuinely built around them. We should be proud of what we’ve achieved this year. But we’re not going to stand still.”