Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 lit up social and digital media across the globe. With cultural relevance and authentic personality at the heart of a deliberate strategy to grow rugby’s global impact, the tournament generated 1.1 billion social impressions, created a host of new stars and delivered a new fanbase for the sport.

A joyous fan and player centric event, Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 surpassed all initial targets and reshaped the record books, becoming the second-biggest Rugby World Cup ever on digital, behind the men’s edition in France in 2023.

England 2025 achieved an impressive 1.1 billion social impressions on owned channels, reflecting the growing global appeal of women’s rugby and the success of World Rugby’s digital-first strategy. This approach also fostered an environment where athletes could build stardom and gain visibility, elevating their profiles within the fiercely competitive sport and entertainment landscape.

The event drew a fresh wave of younger, more diverse fans, particularly on TikTok and Instagram, with female supporters making up two-thirds of all new followers. This surge in engagement was reflected across official social media channels, which amassed 31.1 million interactions (likes, shares, and comments) from 8,760 published posts, showcasing the tournament’s growing appeal and cultural resonance among a broader global audience.

The tournament’s video content strategy also drove exceptional results, with 850 million video views and more than half a million new followers gained across World Rugby and Rugby World Cup channels during the competition period.

A strategy built around players, creators and digital innovation

This success was fuelled by a focused and bold digital strategy designed to cut through convention and drive a generational moment on social platforms, making rugby culturally relevant and showing the sport as it had never been seen before. The strategy was centred on five key pillars:

• The power of personality: A targeted effort to create stars via powerful storytelling celebrating the athleticism, character and personality of key players across channels and elevating their profiles through enhanced content support and AI-powered distribution tools. AI-clipped video and images were shared directly with team and player accounts, helping players grow their following by an average of 37 per cent during the tournament.
• Content creators: Digital-native creators were embedded with participating teams to generate authentic, behind-the-scenes content and showcase the personalities of rugby’s athletes. This approach resulted in the creation of unique pieces of content, amplifying visibility across team and tournament channels.
• Broadcast digital-first production: Mobile-first camera crews captured fan reactions, celebrations, and iconic on-field moments offering fresh, emotional perspectives for social storytelling and enabling rights-holding broadcasters to engage mobile and social audiences more effectively.
• Platform collaborations: Strategic partnerships played a key role in reaching new audiences. Collaborations with Snapchat brought immersive in-stadium experiences via Snap Cam, while a landmark partnership with TikTok — featuring a dedicated Rugby World Cup search hub and influencer events — significantly expanded rugby’s reach among younger fans.
• Embodying the rugby spirit: Infusing every social touchpoint with the authentic energy, humour, and camaraderie of the rugby clubhouse, amplifying the sport’s distinctive culture and quirks to captivate loyal fans and spark curiosity in new audiences.

Strong digital platforms deepening fan engagement

Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 became the most accessible rugby tournament ever organised with fans able to watch the event live and on-demand everywhere on the planet, either via local broadcast partners or via the RugbyPass App and rugbypass.tv.

World Rugby’s owned media platform RugbyPass.com experienced remarkable fan growth, driven by its focus on player-led storytelling. Dedicated pages for player, team, and tournament spotlighted athletes and deepened fan connection. Over the six-week competition, RugbyPass active users for women’s rugby articles increased by 1,900 per cent, with 68 per cent organically gained via Google Search Results, primarily from the UK.

Initiatives like the Top 50 Women’s Players campaign played a pivotal role in elevating women’s rugby, offering athletes a dynamic, personality-driven platform to share their stories and connect with fans. The dedicated Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 hub also delivered best-in-class coverage through women’s rankings, live stats, fixtures, results, and in-depth news. The result was the most comprehensive coverage ever achieved for a women’s rugby tournament, showcasing the athletes, stories, and global appeal of the women’s game.

On the official tournament website rugbyworldcup.com, multilingual coverage helped attract new audiences from key markets, with editorial strategy following player narratives and team journeys. The website and app also introduced the first official fantasy game for a women’s RWC, giving fans a new way to follow matches and track player performances, while helping highlight standout athletes and bring more attention to individual talent across the women’s game.

 Breaking new markets and building cultural impact

Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 marked a pivotal moment in expanding the sport’s reach and resonance beyond traditional audiences.

The launch of a new dedicated women’s rugby YouTube channel provided another home for storytelling, highlights, and behind-the-scenes content, unlocking fresh revenue opportunities while nurturing a growing community of fans.

A targeted approach in key markets such as Australia and the United States helped the tournament connect with new audiences and build lasting relevance in regions where rugby’s popularity is rising fast, laying valuable foundations ahead of future Rugby World Cups to be hosted in both nations. Outside of the United Kingdom, Rugby World Cup social channels registered the most new fans in the USA, Australia and Canada.

At the same time, World Rugby leaned into broader cultural conversations, producing content that touched on lifestyle, and body positivity (such as the “Strong Body, Strong Minds” campaign), themes that celebrate the individuality, power and confidence of women’s rugby players. This crossover approach culminated in a non-rugby influencer event at the RWC 2025 final, bridging the gap between sport, culture, and entertainment, and expanding rugby’s footprint well beyond the pitch.

Empowering commercial partners through innovation

Commercial innovation was another hallmark of the 2025 edition. With a record 24 brands associated with the tournament, the highest number ever for a Women’s Rugby World Cup, partners played an active role in shaping the fan experience.

Among the standout activations, The Asahi Pod became the first official Women’s Rugby World Cup podcast, offering a fresh and authentic space for players and influencers to share perspectives, stories, and humour. Meanwhile, Ninja Shark’s “Get Rugby With Me” campaign took fans behind the scenes with playful, personality-driven content such as pre-match hair routines, blending creativity with authenticity and showing a different side of the athletes.

Together, these initiatives underscored how collaboration and creativity can elevate both the sport and its partners, bringing fans closer to the game, its heroes, and its values than ever before.

World Rugby Chief Executive, Alan Gilpin said: “Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 was a social media success story capturing the imagination of new audiences around the world. Through smart collaboration and innovation, we not only grew our share of attention but also deepened our relevance among women and younger demographics. The level of partnership across unions, players and platforms was unprecedented, a testament to the power of a united rugby world working towards a shared vision.”

World Rugby’s commitment to safeguarding participants from online abuse played a pivotal role in Women's Rugby World Cup 2025’s digital success. Leveraging an advanced AI-powered monitoring tool, the organisation tracked and flagged abusive content across social media, triggering tangible consequences such as fines, match bans, and, when threats crossed legal thresholds, potential criminal prosecution. This robust protection fostered a respectful, inclusive digital space, empowering players, coaches, and officials to engage confidently online and helping drive record-breaking digital engagement throughout the tournament.

World Rugby will now build on these impressive results to continue driving growth in the women’s game from participation to fandom as part of its long-term ambition to make rugby one of the most accessible and inclusive sports on the planet.