Staggering World Cup viewing figures revealed as huge success achieved on TikTok and YouTube

Now that the Rugby League World Cup is close to its conclusion, the tournament organisers have released some fantastic statistics which display how successful the tournament has been.

The first thing from this to note is the fact TV coverage has reached 150 countries in what has been the most watched Rugby League World Cup ever with a domestic cumulative match average of almost 30 million.

Meanwhile, England vs Samoa in the semi-finals live audience peaked at 2.5 million which is just shy of the 2.6 million peak when England played New Zealand in the semi-finals in 2013.

Impressively, England women’s semi-final peaked at 1.2 million and the Wheelchair final peaked at 0.5 million.

The World Cup organisers have seen a 45% increase in followers across social media, 36 million video views and huge success on both YouTube and TikTok.

Here’s the full list of statistics from the World Cup:

• TV coverage available either through broadcast or streaming in 22 territories across more than 150 countries, supplemented by streaming via apps in territories without traditional rights holding broadcasters.
• RLWC2021 has been the most watched rugby league world cup tournament with a domestic cumulative match average of almost 30 million.
  • With the finals still to play, England men’s semi-final clash against Samoa hit a peak of almost 2.5 million when it aired live on BBC 1.
  • England women’s and wheelchair both attracted huge audiences, with England women’s semi-final clash with New Zealand reaching a peak of 1.2 million and the wheelchair semi-finals coming in at 500,000 peak.
• The Final will be the highest grossing RL game of all time in the UK, delivering more than twice the revenue of the 2013 RLWC Final.
• Across RLWC digital platforms, we have seen a 45% increase in followers since the tournament began, with over half a million followers now across our channels (from 349k to 506k).
• Across social, we have generated over 36 million video views, and an additional 3 million engagements.
• The meeting of Tonga and Samoa was a ground-breaking event on RLWC social, as we brought coverage of their sensational clash. This was best shown on TikTok, where the Samoan Siva Tau versus the Tongan Sipi Tau generated 8 million views and over 700,000 engagements.
• On YouTube, content posted during the tournament has now had almost 150,000 hours of watch time, the equivalent of over 6,000 days.