More than half of the Japanese population watched the World Cup match between Japan and Scotland in Yokohama on Sunday.
In a straight shootout for a place in quarter-finals, Japan claimed a stunning 28-21 victory over Scotland to become the first Asian team to advance beyond the group stage.
Latest estimates put Japan’s population at around 127 million and figures released by a ratings tracker showed that more than half host nation’s population watched the match on terrestrial TV.
WOW!
Viewing figures for Japan v Scotland peaked at 53.7% of the Japanese population, averaging at 39.2% – meaning over 60 million were watching at its peak.
Domestic TV audience has now more than doubled since the opening game against Russia. #RWC2019 https://t.co/GAIRNdb4RE
— Oliver Trenchard (@OliverTrenchard) October 15, 2019
The average audience share for the NTV broadcast was 39.2%, but at 9:41pm – as the game reached its conclusion – it was 53.7%. That means around 60m people were watching the match at its peak.
A look at the TV viewing figures for Japan’s previous pool matches shows that much interest in the tournament has developed over the past few weeks.
For the opening match of RWC 2019 between Japan and Russia, 20m people tuned in to watch. That rose to 30m for the wins over Ireland and Samoa, with it doubling for the final decisive pool match against Scotland.
A peak audience of over SIXTY MILLION (53.7 rating) watched the Japan v Scotland #RWC2019 match on Japanese terrestrial TV Sunday night. (Cable TV will have added a few million more).
The biggest live single market rugby audience in history (until the Japan v SA QF).
— Tim Crow (@shaymantim) October 15, 2019
Photo: Getty Images
