The International Rugby Board today announced that last month's Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 in Dubai shattered all previous tournament broadcast records.
The historic tournament, which was the first to incorporate a 16-team women's event running alongside the men's competition, was broadcast to 760 million people in 141 countries through 29 international broadcasters in 19 languages.
The figures, released by the IRB's broadcast managers ProActive Television, show that total coverage of the world's premier men's and women's Sevens tournament has increased exponentially with 827 hours screened over the three days of competition. This was up 141 percent on the figure for the 2005 event in Hong Kong, which was the most-watched Rugby event of the year. Live coverage also increased from 222 hours in 2005 to 379 hours.
"Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 in Dubai was a resounding success. Its winning formula of exciting, explosive action, competitive matches, world class men's and women's players and plenty of spectacular tries was a major hit with broadcasters the world over and has proven highly successful in reaching out to new audiences," said IRB President Bernard Lapasset.
"The figures clearly show that while Sevens continues to grow in traditional markets such as Europe and Oceania, there has been significant growth across emerging markets such as North and South America, Asia and Africa where live coverage of the tournament was more than double that of 2005 levels."
"Today's announcement is another positive step for us and highlights a global enthusiasm for Rugby Sevens at a time when the Game is reaching out for Olympic Games inclusion and illustrating to the Olympic Family its remarkable following around the world," added Lapasset.
The previous television broadcast record was set at the 2005 tournament in Hong Kong where a truly memorable event was broadcast to 300 million homes worldwide, in 125 countries through 20 international broadcasters.
The Rugby Sevens success story is underpinned by the IRB Sevens World Series, the popular grand prix style championship comprising eight international events, which this year is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
The 2007/08 Series was the most successful to date, televised in 15 countries by 33 international broadcasters and reaching 223 million homes in 13 different languages.