World Rugby has reported that last year’s Rugby World Cup in France recorded 1.33 billion viewing hours surpassing the legacy set by the tournament when it was hosted in England (2015) and Japan (2019).
- •Japan’s 2019 Rugby World Cup saw an impressive 1.1 billion viewership hours despite challenging time zones that excluded some audiences from watching live.
- •The success has been attributed to the partnerships fostered by World Rugby and major broadcast corporations such as TF1 from France and ITV 1 from England to facilitate free-to-air viewership.
- •About 85% of the viewers enjoyed the tournament via free-to-air broadcasts according to the union’s report released yesterday.
“As our sport continues to grow and break new markets, we will continue to work with our broadcast partners to enhance the viewing experience, especially for new audiences, helping us achieve our vision of making rugby a global sport for all,” said World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin.
The final match of any major tournament remains an entertaining spectacle. The tussle between South Africa and New Zealand recorded 94 million viewing hours. Trailing this figure is the quarter-final match between France and South Africa which had 69 million viewing hours. The allure of the sport has seen rising viewership in Germany, Italy, and the US. Nations with strong fanbases such as South Africa, New Zealand, England, Ireland, and France solidified their audiences despite declining linear TV consumption.
England experienced a 27% drop in linear TV usage in 2015 but that did not affect viewership in the Rugby World Cup that year which peaked at 1.01 billion.
- •Rugby was financially challenged like most sports after the COVID-19 pandemic.
- •Rugby unions in England and Australia have reported a decline in funding which has affected the quality of the sport.
- •The Kenya Rugby Union has faced its share of mismanagement woes and wrangles that have severely affected the sport.
The union was incapable of honoring its matches last December in the Dubai 7s after they were unable to settle players’ salaries and transport costs.
The competitive nature of the modern entertainment market has pressured different sports to broaden their fanbases to attract valuable partnerships and profitable sponsorships.