World Rugby said that England's exit from the Rugby World Cup "might be a disaster for team sponsors and ITV, but the tournament is a success globally," according to Shona Ghosh of MARKETING MAGAZINE. World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper acknowledged that "nationwide interest would probably wane," but said int'l participation "had never been bigger." He said, "There’s always the issue of a potential atmosphere, and [lesser] interest of home nation when the team bows out early. We’ll wait to see how that develops. Our sense is this tournament has captured the imagination not just on a global basis, but certainly in this country." Gosper "had little comfort to offer ITV." He said, "England [viewers] might be down, but we have had a record audience in Japan at 25 million people. That’s beyond anything the wildest dreams had forecast. ITV’s figures in the home market may suffer as England is out of it, but when you look at the tournament on a global basis, we’ll probably exceed our TV audience figures." Gosper noted that "this year’s Rugby World Cup had broken records." The tournament is 97% sold out, "with all 2.4 million tickets on track to sell out" (MARKETING MAGAZINE, 10/6).
