The 2023 Rugby World Cup was the most watched rugby event of all time, with a 19% jump in viewership from 2019, World Rugby said on Tuesday morning.
The 2023 tournament clocked in 1.33 billion viewing hours across linear and non-linear broadcast, a growth figure of 30% from the last World Cup held in Europe in 2015.
Of the total viewership, 85% came from free-to-air TV broadcasters, while streaming platforms accounted for 5 percent of the total viewership.
"World Rugby teamed up with free-to-air broadcast partners in most markets to showcase the best of rugby to as many fans as possible," World Rugby said in a statement.
"Eight of the 11 markets surveyed saw strong viewership growth since 2015 despite a general decline in linear TV globally," they added.
Italy had a 70% growth in viewership compared to the 2015 edition, while the viewership in the U.S. more than doubled.
2019 hosts Japan had the third highest viewership despite many matches kicking off late, though the numbers did mark a decrease from their home World Cup four years earlier.
Japan's group stage matches against Argentina and Samoa, which kicked off at 7.45 p.m. in the country, clocked in 33 million viewing hours each, the highest for a domestic broadcast.
"We will continue to work with our broadcast partners to enhance the viewing experience, especially for new audiences," World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin said.
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