Rugby World Cup | Assessing France 2023’s national team fan-data strategies

As the year’s sporting spectacles keep coming, eyes now turn to the France 2023 Rugby World Cup and the pinnacle of men’s Test rugby union – another market which is pursuing digital transformation across the board. Among the most popular national team tournaments on the planet, north of 857 million tuned into the Japan 2019 edition, marking a 26 percent increase over England 2015’s global viewership, as the showpiece was held in Asia for the first time.

Four years on, and this year’s event is once again expected to break new ground, with World Rugby, the sport’s international governing body, aiming to attract a new generation of fans and participants worldwide. To achieve this, the International Federation (IF) is undergoing its own digital transformation and is looking at ways to support its member associations (MA). While several of this year’s represented nations demonstrate digital maturity, there is however a disparity between the strength of their digital and data touchpoints, making it harder to establish a clear fan journey.

For the purposes of this article, N3XT Sports carried out proprietary analysis of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) alongside all four of the past men’s Rugby World Cup champions, including Rugby Australia (ARU), England Rugby (RFU), New Zealand Rugby (NZR), and South Africa Rugby (SARU). Each respective federation is assessed on its customer-facing owned and operated digital touchpoints, including whether they collect fan data via: 

• A newsletter/web login (1pt)
• An official mobile app (1pt)
• Ecommerce (1pt)
• Ticketing (1pt)
• An over-the-top (OTT) streaming subscription (2pts)

And whether: 

• The MA utilizes a single sign-on (SSO) for every data touchpoint (3pts)
• The MA integrates a women’s product into its data strategy (1pt)

“While a popular sport within its traditional markets, rugby union’s digital transformation has the potential to galvanize fan engagement and audience retention globally – by optimizing the collection of fan data at both international and regional levels,” says Kris Brackmann, N3XT Sports’ Business Development Coordinator. “As we look forward to the France 2023 men’s Rugby World Cup, we recognize an opportunity to strengthen the sport and its respective national and domestic infrastructure through the power of digital transformation.”

Rugby Australia (ARU) operates separate web platforms for its Wallabies men’s and Wallaroos women’s national teams, which both offer users the option to sign up to a free Team Rugby subscription. Furthermore, the ARU owns Rugby Xplorer, a dedicated login portal made available via the respective Wallabies, Wallaroos, and Rugby Australia websites and the dedicated Rugby Xplorer mobile app, which also allows subscribers to livestream men’s Queensland Premier Rugby club games and watch historic Super Rugby and international fixtures. While a fan engagement tool, the platform is predominantly used to promote the grassroots game in Australia by helping users to register: (1) their interest in playing, coaching, or volunteering at a regional rugby club; and (2) a team into a sanctioned national or regional tournament. The platform is also used by USA Rugby, the national governing body for rugby union in the United States.

Data collection: Its Rugby Xplorer hub puts the ARU in a strong position to collect player and stakeholder data across its entire ecosystem while also raising participation in grassroots rugby union by integrating the Australian club game within its fan journey. Users require a Rugby Xplorer account to sign up to a selection of Wallabies membership offerings. Its Lions Edition membership, for example, gives members priority access to tickets for Wallabies matches and the British & Irish Lions Tour of Australia 2025, as well as access to live Wallabies France 2023 matches via the Australian OTT streaming service Stan Sport. Despite its diverse digital offering, the ARU does not provide a SSO across Rugby Xplorer, the Wallaby Shop, and Team Rugby subscriptions, meaning that the ARU is working to consolidate its respective data streams.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU), the governing body for English rugby union, owns a diverse digital inventory. In addition to the England Rugby website, the federation owns and operates web platforms for Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR), the top tier of the women’s club game, previously known as Premier 15s, and Championship Rugby, the country’s second tier of men’s rugby union. Both websites provide users with access to live streams for men’s and women’s rugby fixtures via the same login. The RFU operates its own ticketing portal via the main website as well as the England Rugby Store, which is run in collaboration with the US sports retailer Fanatics. Meanwhile, the federation’s dedicated Twickenham Stadium mobile app allows users to access pre-purchased tickets for events held at the home of English rugby union.

Data collection: The RFU collects fan data across all of its digital products, including the RFU website and its PWR and Championship Rugby affiliate sites. Despite owning a diverse digital portfolio, including a unique user login for the federation’s website, ticketing platform, and livestreaming services, similar to Rugby Australia, the RFU does not however provide an SSO across all its data touchpoints, with users required to sign up separately to the England Rugby Store and Twickenham Stadium mobile app. The RFU also collects user data via its Game Management System (GMS), which enables grassroots players and parents of junior players to register with a local club, while also offering players and club officials access to the RFU online shop.

The French Rugby Federation (FFR) owns and operates a dedicated website, the FFR Competitions mobile app, Boutique Officielle online shop, and Billetterie Officielle ticketing platform, which integrates its women’s product. Although it does not yet operate a dedicated OTT streaming service, and albeit less diverse than the RFU, the host national team for this year’s men’s Rugby World Cup provides an SSO across its entire digital inventory, including its FFR Competitions app, which showcases results, fixtures, and standings for more than 1,900 domestic rugby clubs across 500 national and regional competitions. The mobile app also allows users to personalize their experience by selecting their favorite clubs to follow and receive updates from the latest fixtures in real-time.

Data collection: By enabling users to access its entire digital portfolio via an SSO, including its web, mobile, ecommerce, and ticketing platforms, the FFR provides its front office a 360° overview of its digital user experience (UX) at every stage of the fan journey. While the federation provides live streams from its national team press conferences and its Under-20 men’s team fixtures via the FFR’s dedicated YouTube channel, it has scope to expand its digital offering to include an official subscription streaming service and to maximize its advanced data-collection capability.

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has launched its NZR+ subscription streaming service which provides users with access to match highlights, documentaries and other original content via a dedicated website and mobile app. The federation also operates a website dedicated to its national club and grassroots games alongside another for the All Blacks men’s national team. The latter offers users the option to register their own New Zealand Rugby Fan Profile, which acts as a hub to manage communication preferences about matchday tickets, product offerings, and related news and events. Among its other digital platforms, NZR owns and operates the All Blacks Official mobile app, which provides information for international, Super Rugby, and national competitions, as well as the MyRugby mobile app, which allows users to follow their favorite community clubs. Both the All Blacks website and official app provide access to the All Blacks Shop, though neither include a dedicated platform for matchday ticket sales.     

Data collection: The New Zealand Rugby Fan Profile provides users with an SSO for all of NZR’s data touchpoints, including the All Blacks website, the All Blacks Shop, and the new NZR+ streaming offering, which allows users to sign in via web and mobile. While the official All Blacks mobile app also directs users to the All Blacks Shop, to purchase tickets for national team fixtures, web and mobile users are directed to the Australian ticketing company Ticketek and does not consolidate NZR’s men’s and women’s data strategies.

South Africa Rugby (SARU) has room to develop its digital portfolio and strengthen its data-collection capability across its men’s and women’s products. The SARU invites users to subscribe to the federation’s Online Community via the dedicated SA Rugby website, though is not connected to the Official Springboks Online Store, which requires users to register separately. Subscribers receive special offers and ticketing information for the Springboks men’s team and other national teams. Tickets for international men’s fixtures can be purchased via SA Rugby Travel, the federation’s dedicated travel agent, powered in collaboration with Tourvest Destination Management, which offers ticket-inclusive travel packages to all Springbok Test matches.

Data collection: The reigning men’s Rugby World Cup champions score the lowest fan-data capability of the federations assessed. This is partially due to the fact it has yet to augment its digital inventory – though the SARU also doesn’t consolidate fan data for its mailing list, online shop, and travel arm using an SSO. In order to capitalize on its popularity and bring together its men’s and women’s products, the federation could consider re-launching a dedicated mobile app focused on consolidating its other data touchpoints and utilizing a universal login.

France 2023 will see 20 nations compete in the tenth edition of the men’s Rugby World Cup. It has been 36 years since the All Blacks were the first to lift the Webb Ellis Cup at Auckland’s Eden Park in 1987, during which time the tournament has evolved, yet has rarely deviated from its traditional markets. As the sports industry gears up for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with the rugby sevens short format taking the stage once again, the sport continues to engage new audiences while its federations are primed for further expansion through digital transformation.

“We are continually assessing the market for areas where rights holders and sports organizations can improve operationally at federation, club, and competition level,” Brackmann continues. “Similar to other major tournaments such as the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup, rugby union’s elite show a mixed digital and data maturity. With guidance, national federations can develop a digital roadmap that serves audience retention and commercial growth at all levels of the game.”

Our team at N3XT Sports works tirelessly to develop and implement data and digital transformation strategies across a multitude of sports properties at federation level, competition level, and club level. To find out more about how N3XT Sports can serve your organization, fill out the form below, and we’ll be in touch. Our goal is to drive the digitalization of the sports industry and our clients.