Proof the Rugby League World Cup has taken the sport to new areas

The main aim for the Rugby League World Cup was to grow the sport and it seems it did so.

The tournament attracted amazing TV figures including a 2.8 million peak for England vs Samoa in the semi-finals which also had a 23% audience share, which is a truly remarkable figure.

The final, despite England’s absence, had nearly 2 million viewers whilst England women’s semi-final defeat to New Zealand had 1.4 million viewers as the Wheelchair Final between England and France had 1.4 million.

However, perhaps the best success came in terms of the demographics of the audience watching.

In terms of demographics, 40% of the TV audience share was female, while 37% of the overall viewers were under the age 55. Encouragingly 46% of the viewership was based south of the Midlands, outside of the traditional rugby league heartlands with a further 43% based in the north and the remaining share from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This means that the sport is continuing to be watched by both men and women whilst plenty of the fans are young which bodes well for the sport moving forward.

The most encouraging figures is the number of fans watching outside of the heartlands showing the sport’s growth in new areas.

It bodes well for the future and especially for IMG as they look to guide the sport to pastures new.