IRFU Rugby Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 Women's Sport World Rugby

‘Ground-breaking’ Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 breaks multiple records

August 30, 2017

This year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup has proven to be one to remember.

New Zealand lifted the coveted trophy on Saturday after a pulsating final against England and World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont has hailed the competition as a “special and ground-breaking” event, which broke records on and off the field.

New stars were born and the performance bar was raised by the world’s top players and teams. For instance, World Rugby analysis showed that on average the ball was in play 10% longer than in men’s matches.

Yet, the biggest results were achieved off the field, where viewership and social engagement records were smashed.

To break down some of the impressive numbers, the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 was:

The best attended – Ireland 2017 raised the bar in terms of support throughout the tournament with a record total attendance of 45,412.

  • The pool stages in Dublin sold out with 17,516 attending matches.
  • The final attracted 17,115 spectators.

The most viewed – The tournament captured hearts and minds across the globe with Ireland, France, UK, and the USA all recording record viewing figures.

  • A new tournament record of a peak audience of 3.2 million tuned into the France vs England semi-final.
  • A peak of 2.65 million tuned into ITV in the UK to watch the final – the largest single audience for a Women’s Rugby World Cup final.

The most engaged – Ireland 2017 was the most socially engaged World Rugby event of 2017, generating record video views, social engagement rates, and website traffic.

  • 45 million views across official tournament platforms, the best-performing World Rugby event of the year and the biggest since Rugby World Cup 2015.
  • 73% of social media engagement was under 24, while a 53/47% audience split between female and male fans highlighted the appeal to both.
  • There were 63,000 uses of the official competition hashtag #WRWC2017.
  • 50,000 new fans joined World Rugby’s social media communities.
  • 600,000 unique users visited Women’s Rugby World Cup website over the duration of the tournament from 223 different countries, generating four times as many page views as WRWC 2014.

“The level of global coverage and excitement is a testament to the performances of the world’s top teams and reflects the surge in interest around the world,” added Beaumont.

“Off the field, our friends from the IRFU did an exceptional job at hosting the event, while the volunteers and fans were simply brilliant.”

“But most of all, it is the teams who deserve the praise. There is no doubt that they have inspired a new generation of girls and boys to get into rugby and while only one team can be crowned champions, all the teams were fantastic on and off the field – rugby has certainly been the winner.”

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IRFU Rugby Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 Women's Sport World Rugby