Live streaming hasn’t entered our lives as recently as you might think. The first events to be live-streamed happened in the 1990s but in more recent years we’ve seen how this technology has gradually changed rugby and other parts of the entertainment world.
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A New Generation of Entertainment
It’s impossible to talk about live streaming without mentioning cricket, as the India-Pakistan ICC Cricket World Cup match in 2023 set a new viewing record with 35 million concurrent viewers watching the action. Recent Super Bowls and football World Cups have also been watched on live streams by millions of viewers and its presence in major sporting events seems set to increase.
However, live streaming isn’t limited to sports, as we’ve also seen it introduced into major other areas of the entertainment industry such as music concerts and land-based theatre shows beamed live from the stage across the planet. An interesting example that shows the potential of this technology can be seen in the play Adventures Beyond Wonderland casino game. A live human presenter spins a wheel with prizes marked in the different segments, with players watching the action and betting live from their devices. It’s one of the range of live game shows in online casinos, with Crazy Time Live and Money Drop Live a couple of the others in this genre.
Easier Access to Worldwide Rugby
Live streaming gives viewers easy access to events worldwide, which can help them reach a far wider audience than would otherwise have been the case. It’s no surprise to see that the Rugby World Cup in 2023 was the most viewed rugby event in history, with France leading the way among the nations with the most viewers thanks to its 481 million viewing hours.
It’s worth pointing out that just 5% of the global viewership numbers came from streaming services rather than free-to-air TV or cable. This percentage has been steadily climbing in recent years and it seems safe to assume that the 2027 version of the event in Australia will include more people using streaming services to watch the games.
Streaming services have also reached the Gallagher Premiership Rugby league. The PRTV Live service now offers live streaming of all the games that aren’t being shown on TNT sport of ITV, with fans able to decide between a match pass or a full season pass. Meanwhile, in rugby league the idea of showing all the Super League games on the Super League + streaming service has been well received by fans, and the RL Commercial Managing Director, Rhodri Jones stated that they’re looking at how well it could work if they split the games out over different days
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Can We Expect More Rugby Streaming?
It seems clear that the introduction of live streaming of rugby games has gone well enough to suggest that we can expect to see more games streamed in the future. For many fans, it’s a new and more flexible way of watching that could increase their passion for the sport by making it more accessible at all times.
