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REACHING AND INSPIRING NEW AUDIENCESTHE MOST VIEWED RUGBY EVENT EVERA compelling tournament reached and was viewed by more people than ever before as rugby continues to inspire participation in record levels. Rugby World Cup 2015 in England was the most viewed rugby event ever, reaching and inspiring new audiences across the globe as the world’s top teams competed for the sport’s greatest prize.The tournament, with its compelling drama from start to finish, delivered new and exciting audience trends, firmly establishing Rugby World Cup as one of the world’s most viewed major sports events.An estimated total of 120 million tuned in to watch New Zealand make history in becoming the first team to successfully defend the title, but by then the broadcast conversion had already been secured as a record 16,000 hours of action had been aired worldwide. In the UK, France and Ireland, Rugby World Cup 2015 matches attracted the biggest television audiences of the year. For host broadcaster ITV, the opening match, England v Wales, England v Australia and the final all attracted audiences of more than 10.5 million. The total three-minute reach was a huge 40.2 million, while the 15-minute reach was just under 34 million, demonstrating just how Rugby World Cup 2015 was capturing the imagination across the host nation.Arguably the most staggering statistic was recorded in Japan, where the Brave Blossoms’ superb performances inspired a new generation of rugby fans as a Rugby World Cup record of 25 million tuned in to watch Japan v Samoa. Japan’s historic victory over South Africa on Super Saturday, on a glorious opening weekend, was initially watched by a modest live audience in Japan, but repeat viewing ballooned in a nation where catch-up or tablet consumption is king and audiences of 20 million and 25 million respectively for the Scotland and Samoa matches saw rugby firmly established in public consciousness, reflected by rugby being the third most Googled term in Japan in 2015.There were notable and exciting audience increases in Brazil, Germany and China, reflecting the growing appetite for rugby in important Olympic markets as rugby gets set to return to that stage after an absence of 92 years. With its mission statement of ‘growing the global game’ at heart, World Rugby set out to prioritise free-to-air coverage over revenue in targeted markets and the strategy paid dividends in Germany, where more than one million viewers regularly tuned into big matches, and in the Netherlands, Brazil and China, where every match was available live for the first time.32 WORLD RUGBY YEAR IN REVIEW 2015RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 | SOCIAL & DIGITALLEFT ITV Sport host their pitch-side studio at the Millennium Stadium