France 2023 was the most-watched Rugby World Cup of all time, governing body World Rugby declared today (Tuesday).
The tournament, won by South Africa, achieved 1.33 billion viewing hours (VH) across all programming on linear and non-linear broadcast, representing a 30-per-cent hike on the 1.01 billion recorded at England 2015, the most comparable recent tournament in terms of time zone.
The total VH at Japan 2019 was 1.11 billion.
Unsurprisingly as the host nation, the seven-week tournament was most-viewed in France, with 481 million VH, despite Les Bleus’ narrow quarter-final exit to the eventual champions.
That game was the second-most watched globally at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with 69 million VH, beaten only by the final, South Africa’s 12-11 win over New Zealand, which achieved 94 million VH.
Eight of the 11 markets surveyed by Futures Sports and Entertainment recorded strong viewership growth since 2015 despite a general decline in linear TV globally. With England reaching the semi-final and Wales and Ireland the quarter-finals, the UK’s viewership came close to breaking the 2015 record of 361 million.
World Rugby highlighted growing viewership in Germany (15.2 million VH), Italy (16.1 million VH) and the United States (11.1 million VH), up 27 per cent, 70 per cent and 136 per cent, respectively, on England 2015.
The US did not even qualify for France 2023 but World Rugby will hope American engagement continues at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia ahead of the tournament heading to the country for the first time in 2031.
Following a successful hosting of, and showing at, RWC 2019, the positive story continued for Japan at France 2023, where 175.9 million VH were recorded across the tournament. That was 221 per cent up on England 2015.
Some 86 per cent of Japanese viewership came from live programming, despite two pool fixtures played in the middle of the night. Two other pool fixtures, against Argentina and Scotland, kicked off at 7.45pm Japanese time, resulting in each game exceeding 33 million VH.
Of the 1.33 billion VH at France 2023, 85 per cent came from free-to-air television, led in Europe by France’s TF1, which showed 20 matches and sold on rights to 28 matches to fellow commercial network M6 and public-service broadcaster France Télévisions, and the UK’s ITV, which recorded its biggest audience of 2023 for England’s semi-final defeat to South Africa.
TF1 and ITV garnered 322 million and 295 million VH, respectively, while the latter’s streaming platform ITVX was the eighth most viewed channel, with 27 million VH.
In total, 70 million VH at the tournament came from streaming platforms.
RugbyPass TV, the free streaming platform launched by World Rugby and Endeavor Streaming on the eve of the World Cup, provided live and on-demand content from the tournament, in particular offering live coverage in dark markets or markets where broadcasters were not showing live coverage of all matches.
It attracted 350,000 subscribers and 1.7 million users during the tournament.
Responding to the report’s findings, World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said: “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.”