Sport England has committed to investing in its This Girl Can campaign for at least another four years after recording a spike in participation figures.

According to the quango’s 2015/16 annual report, its board has agreed to persevere with the campaign until 2020, subject to permission from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

In 2015/16 Sport England spent £3.1m (US$4m, €3.6m) on the campaign – which launched in 2014 – with £2.7m (US$3.5m, €3.2m) going on marketing spend.

The report highlighted the traction gained by This Girl Can, with a quantitative survey conducted by TNS/BMRB finding that 2.8m women had participated in physical activity as a result of the campaign, with 1.6m of those claiming that they had started, or restarted, exercising.

Sport England’s latest Active People Survey recorded 148,700 more women being active for at least 30 minutes once a week, every week, closing the gender gap slightly, while 8,000 organisations have signed up as This Girl Can supporters.

In her foreword, chief executive Jennie Price highlighted the recognition achieved by the campaign.

“It has demonstrated that by placing insight at the heart of what we do we can have a significant impact in behaviour,” she said. “That insight has also resonated beyond our national boundaries, with This Girl Can winning over 50 awards, many of them international, including the Grand Prix at the Cannes advertising awards for the best health related campaign in the world last year.”