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World Series Rugby goes Global
July 9, 2018
The success of World Series Rugby continues to create waves with the live television broadcast of the final three games of the 2018 Series to be made available to every sports fan on the planet through Twitter.
So far, WSR matches in front of large crowds between the Western Force and Fiji, Tonga, the Melbourne Rebels and New Zealand’s Crusaders have been broadcast live and free-to-air via the Seven Network in Perth and available right around Australia on Fox Sports.
Beginning this Saturday, July 14, the final three games will be made available worldwide via the Twitter handle @WSR.
Western Force CEO Nick Marvin says the opportunity is in line with a World Series Rugby mandate to trial creative, user-friendly spectator experiences on and off the paddock in the build up to the 2019 series.
“We are so excited at the chance to make the WSR brand of rugby available to as many sports and entertainment lovers as possible,” Mr Marvin explained.
“To grow WSR and rugby further by providing new and engaging ways to enjoy what is an entertaining and compelling viewing product is what we are all about.
“World Series Rugby has already trialled new rules and interpretations around faster scrums and lineouts and of course we saw the first nine-point Power-Try against the all-conquering Crusaders. We will continue to experiment with our broadcast as well and testing the value of Twitter on a global scale is an obvious step,” he said.
Streaming live-sport on Twitter has become increasingly popular since the tech company broadcast Thursday Night American NFL games in 2016. Through WSR, rugby will join tennis, basketball, golf and baseball as high-profile sporting events available live on Twitter.
Twitter viewers will also have the option of joining on-screen conversations around the match while watching the live coverage.
World Series Rugby live on Twitter @WSR:
Western Force vs Samoa. Kick off 6.30pm Australian Western Standard Time (11.30pm West Samoa Time) Saturday, July 14, nib Stadium Perth, Western Australia.