Nine wins Rugby World Cup broadcast rights
Nine has secured the exclusive broadcast rights to the next three Men’s and Women’s Rugby World Cups.
The deal covers the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, hosted in England, as well as the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup and 2029 Women’s Ruby World Cup, both to be hosted in Australia.
It marks the first time Nine has had full broadcast rights for the men’s tournament since 2003.
Stan Sport will deliver every match from all three of the tournaments live, while Wallabies and Wallaroos games will be live and free on via the 9 Network and 9 Now. Nine’s digital, publishing, and audio assets will also provide coverage, including expert commentary, analysis, and entertainment.
The new agreement builds on Nine’s previous Rugby World Cup coverage, including the 2021 women’s comp — which was played in 2022 — and the 2023 men’s comp, where Stan had the streaming rights and Nine carried some matches.
“The Rugby World Cup agreement reinforces the power of Nine. Whether it’s streaming on 9Now or Stan Sport, watching at home on 9 Network, listening on radio or getting the analysis across our publishing mastheads, Nine can bring the game to Australian audiences like no other media company can,” Matt Stanton, CEO of Nine, said in a media release on Monday.
“It’s not just the fans that benefit from this partnership with World Rugby, our sponsors and advertisers know they can trust Nine to elevate their brands and engage with audiences in a meaningful and impactful way that adds to the experience for our audiences.”
Nine will also broadcast the upcoming British and Irish Lions Tour later this year.
The deal also includes other major international competitions including the 2025 World Rugby U20 Championship and the 2025 Pacific Nations Cup. Nine has also secured the exclusive broadcast rights to the HSBC World Rugby Seven Series from 2025-2029, and the WVX Tournaments from 2026.
Alan Gilpin, CEO of World Rugby, described the partnership as “unprecedented”, as it will provide greater visibility of the sport, “ensuring the next generation of rugby fans is inspired by the action both on and off the field”.
He said in the release: “As we enter a golden decade for the sport in Australia, we are excited to continue our fruitful relationship with Nine all the way to two era-defining Rugby World Cups in 2027 and 2029.”
The partnership comes after Nine also inked a broadcast deal with Rugby Australia, spanning five years. As part of this deal, which runs from 2026-2030, Nine will air Super Rugby, Wallaroos, and Wallabies matches, as well as the Rugby Championship, “the soon-to-launch Nations Cup”, the Bledisloe Cup, the Hospital Cup and Shute Shield (with coverage to go to “at least” 2027), and Sanzaar Tests.
The deal is also set to incentivise team performance for the Wallabies, with Nine Entertainment to provide the Australian male rugby team with a healthy “multimillion-dollar cash bonus” if they win more games.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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