ALMOST ten million people have tuned in to watch the Rugby League World Cup so far.
Following the BBC’s dedication, every minute of every match has been broadcast live on the BBC – and the people have responded, watching in their droves.
The tournament’s opening clash between England men and Samoa is the most watched match so far, with a peak audience of 1.8 million people viewing England’s demolition of the South Sea Islanders.
England’s follow up victory over France was watched on the BBC by a peak of 1.5 million, which, when considering it was battling Saturday Night Football between Chelsea and Manchester United, is a brilliant figure.
Matches featuring the home nations have unsurprisingly proven popular with a combined audience of 2 million tuning in to watch the matches between Tonga v Wales and Scotland v Italy.
In total, 165,000 people have also witnessed one of the matches live so far in stadia and chief executive of the RLWC2021, Jon Dutton, is thrilled with the numbers so far.
“It’s been a brilliant opening couple of weeks of the tournament, and it’s been great to see thousands of supporters in the ground and millions tuning in across, TV, online and social platforms to take in the exhilarating action that the athletes are delivering for us,” Dutton said.
“As the men’s tournament approaches the knockout stage and the women’s and wheelchair competitions get set to begin, excitement around the tournament is continuing to build and coverage will be even more extensive.
“It’s particularly pleasing to see so many people engage and interact directly with the Rugby League World Cup 2021 in its various formats, and it bodes well for the sport’s future that our content across social is attracting audiences from younger demographics.
“This tournament has been trailblazing and history making in its approach from day one and these figures are incredibly encouraging as we look ahead to how we continue to grow our fantastic sport once this World Cup is over.”
