#RWC2019: The viewership figures of the SA v Eng final
8 Nov 2019
The final viewership figures of the television broadcast of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final - between the Springboks and England - are in.
Image credit: Getty Images.
At least 48% of all TV viewing adults (15+) were glued to their screens during the two-hour broadcast, and their kids also tuned in. Thank goodness SABC 2 negotiated that they could screen this major event of national interest, it is clear that the TVRs delivered on SABC 2!
(No gender filters included – women also watch rugby!)
Facts and figures
It is important to note that these figures do not take into account the screenings at rugby club villages (such as Monte), pubs, clubs and other group viewing venues. It is possible that we can add on, at the very least, an additional 50%.
Just Googling some images of the game and it is easy to get a sense of the excitement of the home viewings.
Taking a look at TVRs achieved across the two stations across four different demographics, it is really exciting just how ‘nation-building’ this final match was. TVRs achieved against LSM four to seven sit at 9.7 on a Saturday morning – bearing in mind that there are omnibus repeats of favourite soapies on SABC1 at this time too.
And boy, were we glued to our screens! If you look at the ebb and flow of audiences every two minutes, people didn’t even make coffee/tea or even go to the toilet during the commercial breaks!
The SABC2 LSM eight to 10 audience started at just over one million viewers and peaked at 1.6 million viewers by 1pm. Supersport 1 LSM eight to 10 audiences started at just over 700,000 and peaked at 915,000 as the game ended.
Remember the point above regarding the SABC1 broadcast of Generations omnibus. Generations viewership peaked at 1,128,000 at 12.41pm – the victory was already ours.
I also found it interesting to have a look at the advertisers that flighted their adverts during the game. There were 13 “paid-for” ads on SABC 2 and 16 “paid-for” ads on SuperSport 1 – all achieving impressive ratings.
In a press release from DStv, the DStv Now App served more than 500,000 unique users during match day. In fact, the data carried by content delivery network partners during the final peaked at more than 500Gbps (more than 4,000GB of data per minute) – this is another record for DStv Now in Africa.
Finally, even the Google Doodle got involved in the hype and excitement.
Beautiful Google Doodle today for the RWC 2019 final. Or finale. https://t.co/pxMQaHSZHu pic.twitter.com/UY7pzOnDkf
— LizzieBee ��⚫️�������������� #Remainiac #Revoker (@meejahoar) November 1, 2019
About Margie Knap
People fascinate me! Insights into what makes them tick, what they do with their time, where they go, what they do - this intrigues me. I thrive on coupling those consumer insights and a client's business challenges. What I can do to help a client meet those objectives using consumer insights, and delivering a creative solution - this is what I thrive on, this is what intrigues me, this is what kicks my brain into overdrive.
