Early projections show that this year's Women's World Cup could reach 2 billion viewers, nearly double the 1.12 billion who watched the 2019 edition, and participating athletes saw a surge of interest ahead of Thursday’s kickoff.
On Instagram, Swiss star Alisha Lehmann has watched her follower count hit 13.4 million, up 75% over the last year. That following is worth real money. According to ratings agency Nielsen Sports, a single Instagram post by Lehmann is worth $307,000 in media value to a sponsor.
Lehmann isn't an outlier.