Japan 2019: 25 million domestic viewers for Japan-Samoa, peak at 46.1% share in the Tokyo area

Japan - Samoa (38-19), a match of the group stage (Pool A) of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, recorded, on the Japanese free-TV channel Nippon TV, a 32.8% audience share in the Kanto region (which includes the capital of Tokyo and has more than 43 million inhabitants) with a peak at 46.1% late in the game on Saturday 05/10/2019 (kick-off at 19:30 local time in Japan, 12:30 CET).

Nearly 25 million total TV viewers in Japan watched this match, which is nearly 20% of the Japanese population (listed at 126 million in 2017). This figure is equivalent to that obtained for the same match during the group stage of the 2015 Rugby World Cup (see below).

This is the best TV audience in Japan for a sports event in 2019, ahead of the victory of the Naomi Osaka (JPN) over Petra Kvitova (CZE) in the final of the Australian Open (tennis) on 26/01/2019, according to Japanese media.

Japan - Russia (30-10), the opening match of the 2019 Rugby World Cup (on 20/09/2019) recorded a TV audience share of 18.3% in the Tokyo region on Nippon TV, and the match against Ireland (19-12, on 28/09) of 22.5% in the…