The sport of rugby is making a bold digital leap in the United States. Under a new multi-year agreement, World Rugby and Paramount have joined forces to stream the organization's premier competitions across Paramount Global’s platforms through 2029. The partnership covers not just men's and women's Rugby World Cups, but also the Sevens Series, U20 Championships, and other flagship events.
This move amplifies rugby’s visibility in a rapidly shifting media landscape where streaming platforms are overtaking traditional broadcasters. With sports fans increasingly opting for on-demand and multi-device viewing, Paramount’s reach — including CBS Sports and Paramount+ — offers World Rugby a direct line to American audiences hungry for immersive, high-quality coverage.
For U.S. fans, this deal rewrites the playbook. Every major moment from the sport’s top global tournaments will now be easier to access than ever before. Expect live broadcasts, expert commentary, and expansive highlight coverage — all positioned to elevate rugby’s presence across North America and tap into a growing base of rugby enthusiasts.
The agreement joins World Rugby, the sport's international governing body, with Paramount Global, the multinational media conglomerate behind networks like CBS and streaming platform Paramount+. This marks a significant alignment between global sports rights and one of the U.S.’s most powerful media companies.
This multi-year deal stretches across two Rugby World Cup cycles and locks in exclusive coverage rights until the end of 2029. Spanning six years, the agreement secures long-term broadcast stability for multiple international competitions under the World Rugby banner.
The rights package includes flagship tournaments such as:
Beyond the main tournaments, the deal also covers qualifying events and key preparatory competitions, offering year-round touchpoints for audiences to engage with the sport.
Distribution will synchronize across CBS Sports’ linear television assets and digital platforms including Paramount+. Network shows, cable broadcasts, and live-streamed matches will operate in concert to widen reach and drive seamless accessibility. CBS’s multi-platform strategy brings rugby back to mainstream screens in the U.S., a market long dominated by domestic sports like football and basketball.
Over the past five years, Paramount has systematically transformed its streaming offerings, shifting from a general entertainment platform to a destination for premium live sports. The company’s sports portfolio now encompasses marquee events from the NFL, NCAA basketball, UEFA Champions League, and more recently, top-tier global rugby through its latest deal with World Rugby. This expansion moves Paramount+ into direct competition with sports streaming titans like ESPN+, Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video.
Live sports on CBS have historically drawn massive audiences. Paramount has merged this legacy broadcast power with its digital asset, Paramount+, to deliver an integrated sports viewing ecosystem. For instance, NFL games airing on CBS also stream live on Paramount+, offering seamless accessibility. According to ViacomCBS data from Q4 2023, live sports represented over 40% of all peak-time engagement on Paramount+, a clear signal of changing viewer habits and preferences.
The sports streaming market has fractured, with rights increasingly split across multiple platforms. ESPN+ aggregates UFC, NHL, and international soccer; Peacock holds the Premier League; Amazon streams NFL Thursday Night Football. Paramount+ has avoided a scattergun strategy, opting instead to curate elite properties. Securing World Rugby solidifies its position in a niche yet surging category, with untapped potential in North America and beyond.
Rather than chasing fragmented rights deals, Paramount aligns its sports properties to create year-round, fan-focused content blocks. From fall NFL coverage through spring UEFA clashes to summer rugby tournaments, the lineup avoids dead zones and keeps subscribers engaged across all seasons.
With its partnership with World Rugby running through 2029, Paramount positions itself as the definitive home for the sport in the U.S. — a market showing rising interest. CBS Sports Network will supplement live streaming with linear television coverage, while Paramount+ provides mobile and connected device access. This puts professional rugby within reach of tens of millions of American viewers without the need for additional subscriptions or obscure cable packages.
By making a long-term commitment to rugby, Paramount not only diversifies its offering but also asserts leadership in a growing sports vertical. As competing platforms continue chasing hyper-competitive domestic leagues, Paramount secures a global property with enduring viewer potential and minimal overlap with other rights-holders.
The decision by World Rugby to partner with Paramount through 2029 opens direct pathways into a market that has historically placed rugby on the periphery. Data from Nielsen Sports shows the number of rugby fans in the United States reached over 33 million in 2023, an increase of 44% since 2017—yet media access to professional matches has remained sporadic. Through consistent streaming via Paramount+, rugby now enters homes from coast to coast with unprecedented regularity and visibility.
Paramount and World Rugby target broad demographic appeal by tailoring their presentation for the U.S. viewer. Commentary teams will emphasize storytelling, offer contextual background on players, and explain nuanced rules without diluting the sport’s complexity. By integrating player features, American-style analytics, and locally focused promotions, the broadcasts aim to remove entry barriers for first-time viewers and convert curiosity into routine viewership.
Digital distribution creates more than just access—it fuels interaction. Paramount+ enables fans to rewind key moments, toggle between alternate feeds, and receive updates through integrated notifications. Interactive features, second-screen stats, and real-time polls open pathways for sustained engagement. Social media tie-ins amplify impact, as short-form content from live matches trends across platforms like TikTok and Instagram, helping rugby permeate digital culture beyond its traditional base.
Consistency builds habits. A multi-year agreement running through 2029 provides the foundation for long-term fandom. Viewers know where and when to find major matches, from the Rugby World Cup to annual sevens tournaments. Over seven broadcast cycles, fans connect with teams, identify breakout athletes, and absorb the rituals of the sport. Brands have time to craft campaigns, and clubs can scale U.S.-based outreach knowing that broadcasting won’t disappear between seasons. This structure strengthens rugby’s position in a competitive U.S. sports media landscape.
The long-term streaming agreement between World Rugby and Paramount doesn’t stop at American shores. It unlocks dedicated coverage across the Caribbean and Latin American regions, placing rugby in front of new spectators who historically lacked consistent access to live international matches.
Markets like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean will now receive direct access to premier rugby content, including the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups, Under-20 Championships, and the HSBC SVNS Series. These had often been relegated to delayed broadcasts or syndicated through regional cable operators with limited reach.
This deal includes exclusive streaming rights via Paramount+, which offers localized versions of its platform in key Latin American territories. That means Spanish and Portuguese commentary, region-specific programming blocks, and interface localization — all contributing to improved viewer retention and deeper engagement with the sport.
Rather than relying on third-party networks or satellite distribution, fans from Barbados to Buenos Aires can log in and follow every scrum and try in real time. This democratization of access bypasses infrastructure gaps and aligns with broader trends in mobile-first content consumption in the region.
This territorial expansion carries strategic implications for the development of rugby as a commercially viable sport across portions of the globe previously considered peripheral. With national teams like Argentina already competing at a Tier 1 level, and emerging programs in Chile, Uruguay, and Jamaica investing in development, sustained media exposure plays a catalytic role.
Expect increased recruitment, enhanced sponsorship interest, and elevated grassroots participation—especially as rugby becomes a regular fixture on screens from Santiago to San Juan. Distributed media coverage creates visibility loops that often translate into infrastructure investments and commercial growth across sport ecosystems.
For World Rugby, this isn’t just a broadcasting victory. It’s a foothold for global transformation—one stream at a time.
Media rights stand as the largest contributor to global sports revenues. According to Deloitte’s 2024 Sports Industry Outlook, broadcast rights account for approximately 50% of the total revenue in worldwide professional sports, outpacing sponsorship and match-day income. For rugby, aligning with Paramount ensures long-term capital inflow, with monetization opportunities extending beyond match-day coverage into on-demand content, highlight packages, and cross-platform promotional activations.
By securing a multi-year streaming contract through 2029, World Rugby guarantees a predictable revenue stream, elevating the commercial value of its competitions. This predictability empowers the organization to invest in development programs, player welfare initiatives, and global tournament infrastructure.
Major sports organizations are pivoting toward direct-to-consumer platforms to meet shifting viewer behaviors. The NFL, UEFA, and Formula 1 have already inked similar streaming-first deals. In 2023, streaming services accounted for 38% of American sports viewership, surpassing traditional cable for the first time (Nielsen Total Audience Report, Q3 2023).
This shift to digital-first partnerships isn't peripheral—it’s structural. Sports rights holders are no longer only selling time slots on linear TV, but immersive ecosystems crafted for mobile, OTT, and on-demand viewing.
The World Rugby-Paramount deal resets expectations for how rugby rights can be packaged, priced, and localized. Expect rights holders in Tier 2 nations to reassess their media strategies—this deal proves that international federations can command premium placement on mainstream American platforms.
Future broadcasting deals may fragment by platform rather than geography. For example, the Men’s Rugby World Cup could appear on Paramount+, while spin-off content and qualifier matches populate various CBS Sports digital properties. This multi-platform layering protects commercial value while expanding audience touchpoints.
Digital rights encompass more than match replays. They include backstage access, player-infused content, data-driven storytelling, and interactive features. Paramount’s capabilities in augmented content integrations, including alternate-language commentary feeds and dynamic in-game stats banners, evolve the viewer experience.
How might this change viewer habits? For one, expect spikes in asynchronous consumption—more fans choosing to follow rugby on their own schedules. Additionally, social integrations will push content outside the core app ecosystem, fueling viral discovery and community engagement via platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.
Paramount now holds the power to reframe rugby as an always-on media product rather than a seasonal spectacle. That shift redefines how value is generated—not just by media minutes, but by moments worth sharing, rewatching, and reacting to.
The agreement between World Rugby and Paramount brings an extensive lineup of tournaments directly to viewers in the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean. Paramount+ will serve as the exclusive streaming platform for a wide array of World Rugby events through 2029. This marks a shift from limited or fragmented coverage to comprehensive streaming of the sport’s most consequential fixtures.
The deal extends beyond the marquee events. World Rugby Sevens Series, U20 Championships, and international test matches are also part of the package. Fans will be able to follow emerging talent and elite-level play across both men’s and women’s competitions. Availability spans group stages to finals, ensuring narrative continuity throughout each season.
All matches in the World Rugby catalogue under this agreement will be accessible via Paramount+ across supported devices—smart TVs, tablets, desktops, mobile apps, and game consoles—delivering a seamless multi-platform experience. Interactive features like split-screen viewing, match highlight integrations, and real-time statistics enhance the engagement level. Viewers can switch between live matches, catch up with full replays, or dive into curated rugby content libraries, all within a central digital hub.
Streaming logistics are designed for both live-action immediacy and post-match flexibility. Adaptive bandwidth optimization ensures high-definition streaming even on variable internet speeds. For fans in time zones outside the live broadcast windows, matches are archived with chapter markers, enabling users to skip directly to key moments—tries, penalties, cards, and substitutions.
This isn't just broader access. It’s deeper, richer, and precision-engineered for the rugby audience of tomorrow.
The long-term streaming agreement between World Rugby and Paramount unmistakably elevates women’s rugby by integrating both the 2025 and 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cups into its core offering. These tournaments will be broadcast live on Paramount+, placing them alongside men’s competitions in terms of visibility and production investment. Integrated scheduling and promotion mean that fans in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin America will access women’s matches with the same ease as the men's—no lower tiers, no separate timelines.
This deal shifts women’s rugby into mainstream sports consciousness across several continents. With Paramount+ counting 71 million subscribers globally as of Q4 2023, according to Paramount Global’s earnings report, the platform holds the infrastructure needed to scale coverage. Expect more than just game footage. Branded content, player profiles, and interactive social campaigns will support audience growth and foster deeper engagement, especially among younger viewers drawn to inclusive narratives in sport.
The inclusion of these women’s events isn’t symbolic—it’s strategic. According to World Rugby's 2023 participation data, female players now represent over 28% of the global rugby community, a number that continues rising. Sponsorship dynamics are changing in response. Brands like Mastercard and DHL, major partners in rugby, have publicly pledged support for gender parity in sports sponsorships. Global broadcast exposure increases commercial appeal and accelerates infrastructure development for women's teams across emerging rugby markets including Brazil, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.
The partnership doesn’t just reflect a rising tide—it directs it. The investment in elite women’s competition signals a deliberate pivot in content hierarchy, one that treats the women's game not as an accessory, but as an essential engine of rugby’s global expansion.
The World Rugby-Paramount partnership marks a decisive shift in how sports content is distributed and consumed. By locking in digital broadcast rights through 2029, the deal empowers millions of fans to access live matches and exclusive content on-demand, bypassing traditional broadcast structures altogether. Rugby, once tethered to niche cable packages or geo-blocked streams, now rides on the back of a mainstream streaming platform with global reach. This isn’t just wider access—it’s a fundamental rewiring of sport-to-fan interaction.
Linear television no longer holds the reins. Over the past five years, leading streaming services have expanded their sports portfolios with urgency. Amazon’s exclusive coverage of the Premier League and NFL Thursday Night Football, Apple’s entry via Major League Soccer, and Peacock’s Olympic and WWE acquisitions all signal the same trend: global tech and entertainment companies now set the pace in sports media.
Paramount’s growing catalog—which includes UEFA events, the NWSL, and now comprehensive World Rugby coverage—places it among the elite players actively reshaping how audiences experience live sports.
To put this partnership into perspective, consider these precedents:
World Rugby’s alignment with Paramount follows the same trajectory—media decentralization, digital-first viewership, and brand partnership as distribution channel.
This deal resets expectations across the industry. Rights holders can now demand multi-platform exposure, digital-first commitment, and global reach. Broadcasters, once limited to regional exclusivity, must evolve into streaming aggregators or risk obsolescence. At the same time, fans benefit from seamless access, interactive experiences, and vast content libraries.
Expect future negotiations—even for legacy sports—to prioritize streaming reach over broadcast footprint. Sponsorship bundles will adapt. Production models will evolve. Viewer metrics will shift toward engagement over ratings. The industry’s center of gravity now sits with audience-driven digital content ecosystems—rugby just became the latest proof.
World Rugby's long-term broadcast partnership with Paramount Global doesn't only change how fans watch the game—it reshapes the sport's global trajectory. Through 2029, supporters in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin America gain uninterrupted access to every major tournament, from the Rugby World Cup and Women's Rugby World Cup to U20 Championships, Sevens Series, and Olympic Qualifiers. This deal creates an unrivaled continuum of coverage, empowering broadcasters, federations, and national unions with assured visibility on one of streaming’s most rapidly growing platforms.
Rugby has trailed behind U.S. sports giants for decades. This deal adjusts the playing field. Monthly broadcasts on CBS and round-the-clock streaming on Paramount+ mean American audiences no longer watch rugby as an obscure niche—they watch it as mainstream content. New fans discover high-stakes tournaments. Youth programs expand. The countdown to the 2031 Rugby World Cup in the U.S. already feels closer.
In the Caribbean and Latin America, existing rugby followers now receive structured, consistent coverage. Previously sporadic access gives way to reliable viewership windows, encouraging bigger sponsorship deals and broadcasting infrastructure growth in emerging markets.
Rugby fans in the U.S. can begin streaming now through Paramount+, with marquee matches simulcast on CBS. Access the full rugby experience—Men’s and Women’s Sevens Series, test matches, and full tournament editions—direct from mobile, smart TVs, or online. Search for World Rugby content within the Paramount+ app to find a curated home for international competition.
Want a direct route in? Here’s your first step: paramountplus.com.
This broadcast partnership isn’t just about streaming—it’s a redefinition of access. Game on, and the future looks global.
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