Unbeknownst to the heavy majority of Americans is that American football — by far the most popular sport in the US — has roughly the same global audience as its pad-less counterpart: rugby. With fewer American fans than horse racing and bowling, rugby has failed to ever gain essentially any marketshare in the US almost entirely because Americans see it as a sport just like football and they would rather continue watching exclusively football. But rugby’s perpetual lack of popularity in the States has not hindered Rugby International Marketing in its attempts to make the sport more commonplace in the US — in fact, it’s done the opposite.
Get The Latest Rugby Tech News In Your Inbox!
On April 6, Omnigon, a sports and entertainment digital services firm, announced that it is being called upon by Rugby International Marketing to develop The Rugby Channel, which is an over-the-top video platform. The Rugby Channel is already available on both iOS and Android, as well as online at TheRugbyChannel.tv, and will eventually be on more advanced platforms. The Rugby Channel is akin to services such as MLB.tv and NBA League Pass, which expand the reach of their respective sports by making them viewable across most smartphones, tablets, TVs, and more. What makes The Rugby Channel different, though, is that it first must find a way to accumulate any popularity for rugby, which (relatively speaking) holds no stake in the American sports world (although the newly formed North American Rugby league is trying to change that).
Alas, that is a feat which may be less difficult to achieve than anyone believes. With not just sports but everything now streamed in all-immersive, over-the-top fashion, American sports fans could start making use of The Rugby Channel simply because it is more live sports content for them to feast their eyes on. On top of that, rugby is truly a very exciting sport, and that fact coupled with the thirty day free trial offered by The Rugby Channel should serve as the hook that Rugby International Marketing needs to establish a respectable fan base in the US. From there, rugby simply needs to gain the commercial publicity that other sports garner through social media, TV programs, and more before it can fully claim popularity in America.
Rugby International Marketing has to create what is, more or less, an American product to make the impression it intends to on a nation that notoriously doesn’t care for rugby at all. And with The Rugby Channel, that’s exactly the case — rugby can be viewed anywhere by anyone, which will pave the way for the sport to finally make a name for itself in the US.