Numbers show Super Rugby is on the rise
SPOTLIGHT: The 2024 edition of the Super Rugby Pacific competition showed a significant increase in viewership numbers.
After 18 competitive weeks, we saw 12 teams battle it out across 91 matches and a new champion in the form of the Blues after seven years of Crusaders dominance.
What do the numbers say?
The competition, in New Zealand saw a 12 percent increase in viewership since 2023 – whilst stadium attendance went up by nine percent and social video views by 40 percent.
Equalling try-scoring records
The on-field action didn’t disappoint either – with loose forward Hoskins Sotutu and wing Sevu Reece dotting down 12 times during the season and a total of 663 tries scored across the competition.
The average try-scoring tally per match amounts to 7.3 with Chiefs flyhalf Damian McKenzie ending the season as the competition’s top points scorer.
Kevin Malloy, the chairman of Super Rugby Pacific expressed his satisfaction of the season’s results.
“It’s fantastic to see the 2024 season perform well, the Super Rugby Pacific teams were outstanding this season with some close matches, upsets and overall, fast, intense, competitive rugby.
“The quality of the competition is reflected through our off-field results. We saw more fans showing up to games, tuning in on broadcast and engaging across our digital channels. A huge thank you to all fans for your support this season, we couldn’t do it without your passion and dedication.”
Close to 2.1 million New Zealanders tuned in across pay and free-to-air television – an uptake of over 1.94 million from 2023 at the end of the 2024 regular season.
On digital channels, a further 249,000 unique viewers tuned in with over 6.81 million streams throughout the tournament.
Fijian passion burning strong
The Blues and Fijian Drua quarterfinal clash had the highest viewing numbers in Fiji with 380,000 people tuning in.
Over 640,000 fans came out in support of their respective Super Rugby Pacific teams throughout the season – an increase of nine percent from 2023.
Moana Pacifica hosted a historic first home match in Tonga with the Final between the Blues and Chiefs saw the highest fan attendance with 44,000 people coming through the gates at Eden Park.
Hurricanes the main attraction
Matches across the regular season where the Hurricanes were involved in, saw the largest crowds – with the clash between the Blues and the Hurricanes seeing 25,873 people taking up a seat.
There were also two sold-out regular season clashes with the Round Nine clash between the Fijian Drua v Hurricanes and Round 14 clash between the Chiefs v Hurricanes all packed to capacity.
The power of social media
Social content across the competition channels also proved to be a hit with fans – with video views seeing an increase of 40 percent with 162 million views – and video engagement going up by 4.2 percent with 6.7 million engagements on content posted.
At the end of a successful Super Rugby season, in New Zealand – five new All Blacks were called up as well.
