A peak of 2.4m watched England’s opening victory v USA on linear
4.6 million tuned into the BBC’s coverage of the Women’s Rugby World Cup on its opening weekend, surpassing the reach of the entire tournament last time round.
This included the opening match of the tournament, where 2.1 million watched on BBC1 and another 600,000 on iPlayer as England defeated the USA 69-7. Meanwhile, a peak of 1.2 million watched as Scotland beat Wales 38-8 in their opener. There was also a peak of 534,000 for Ireland’s 42-14 victory over Japan on BBC2.
Overall, there were 2.1 million streams of the matches on iPlayer. In addition, there were 3.2 million unique visitors accessed Women’s Rugby Union World Cup content on the BBC Sport website and app, with 1.2 million of those engaging specifically with the live text pages during the matches.
The opening weekend viewing figure surpasses the entire reach of the 2021 World Cup tournament (played in 2022), which attracted 3.7 million viewers overall, including 1.8 million for the final.
Alex Kay-Jelski, director of BBC Sport, said: “It’s been a historical summer for women’s sport, and BBC Sport is proud to have been at the heart of it. These record-breaking figures for the opening weekend of the Women’s Rugby World Cup show the growing passion and interest of fans across the UK. With all four home nations competing on the world stage, we’re bringing audiences every match, every moment, and the stories behind these inspiring female athletes. And with the tournament just getting started, there’s much more to come.”
Ruby Tui, Black Fern and BBC Sport pundit, said: “If you could buy shares in women’s rugby - it would be your number one investment right now. It’s such a buzz to be here in England to witness this phenomenal growth of our game. World records are being broken every weekend and I’m here for it. How good!”
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