The International Rugby Board has confirmed that Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013, which kicks off in Moscow today, will be broadcast to more territories than any previous Rugby World Cup Sevens event.
The flagship tournament, which brings together the world’s top Sevens players across 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams representing 28 nations will be broadcast to 321 million homes (more than double 2009) in 152 territories (up 11 on 2009) 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. The previous record was set at Dubai 2009, an event that played a major role in delivering Rugby Sevens to the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games programme.
The strong broadcast platform includes live coverage for the first time in Brazil, the Netherlands and Russia and increased live coverage USA.
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“Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Moscow is on track to be a resounding success. Sevens’ winning formula of exciting, explosive action, competitive matches, world class men’s and women’s players and plenty of spectacular tries is proving a major hit with global broadcasters and has proven highly successful in reaching out to new audiences,” said IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.
“These 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 since the 2009 Olympic decision.”
“The announcement is another positive step for Rugby and illustrates the truly global enthusiasm for Rugby Sevens at a time when the sport is counting down to our Olympic Games return at Rio 2016,” added Lapasset.
The Rugby Sevens success story is underpinned by the HSBC Sevens World Series, the popular grand prix style championship comprising nine international events and the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series, which enjoyed a successful debut in 2012/13 with events in Dubai, USA, China and the Netherlands.
Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Moscow kicks off on Friday at 15:00 (local time) at the Luzhniki Stadium with Samoa versus Zimbabwe in the men’s competition. The women’s competition kicks off at 09:00 on day two when debutants Tunisia face New Zealand.
The IRB will be providing a full commentary feed from the main pitch across all three days for fans around the world via www.rwcsevens.com subject to right’s holding broadcast geoblocking in some territories.
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