Steve Jones, Content Director at Crowd Network, discusses rugby’s prospects in 2025 and how podcasting is helping the sport reach new audiences.
There’s a serious argument to be made that 2025 will be the most commercially valuable year in rugby history.
This year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations is as competitive as it’s ever been, and the Guinness Women’s Six Nations takes place just months before England host the biggest ever Women’s Rugby World Cup — one that will generate millions for the UK economy.
In between, the British and Irish Lions will tour Australia, creating engagement and debate all over the home nations. It feels like a pivotal year for the sport.
People will tell you rugby is dying. Some podcasters will tell you that every week. Not ours.
For The Love Of Rugby (FTLOR), hosted by England’s most-capped men, Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, will become the first Crowd podcast to generate £1 million in annual revenue.
The presenters are still playing, and they’re doing so in front of increased Gallagher Premiership crowds and TV viewing figures. Their club, Leicester Tigers, has 28 corporate partners listed on its website.
The sport’s growing commercial value goes hand in hand with its increasing popularity on podcast platforms, YouTube, and social media.
This growth is especially true of the women’s game, which has its first viral superstar in Olympic bronze medallist Ilona Maher, who became an internet sensation during the Paris 2024 Games.
With more than eight million followers across her TikTok and Instagram profiles, she is driving record match attendance for the Bristol Bears. She also drove the six-hour round trip to the FTLOR studio, and dramatically increased our own social media following in the process.
The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup sold a record-breaking 220,000 tickets before the year even started. 130,000 were sold in the presale alone, signifying the strength of the demand.
This enthusiasm has crossed geographical boundaries, as World Rugby received ticket applications from fans in 72 countries. It’s also notable that equal numbers of men and women have been purchasing tickets, implying it will be the most inclusive tournament in the Women’s World Cup’s history.
Despite this social and commercial prominence of the sport, there are fewer young people playing rugby. A 2024 Rugby Football Union (RFU) review found the sport is being played less at youth level — even at traditional grammar and private schools.
This is for several reasons, including fears of head injuries, the view that it’s too complicated to introduce to children, and (unfair) stereotypes of rugby players and fans as “posh white boys” that put people off engaging.
Football dominates in England. We know that. The Premier League is a behemoth, the Champions League has more games than ever before, and the allure of video games for Generations Z and Alpha means some young people aren’t interested in playing sports at all. You wouldn’t be blamed for feeling some anxiety about the future of grassroots rugby.
But while young people are perhaps not playing rugby themselves, we’ve found they form the core audience of For The Love Of Rugby.
Remarkably, 61% of FTLOR listeners are aged 18-34, and 83% are under the age of 44. They’ll help generate 3 million YouTube views on the FTLOR channel during the Men’s Six Nations, making our Instagram account the fastest growing of any rugby media outlet.
Presenter Dan Cole hosted our first-ever live event in January at BrewDog Waterloo, and he was shocked at how young everybody was. There were one hundred listeners in the room, and hundreds more competing in Dan’s pre-Six Nations pub quiz at BrewDog bars all over the UK.
It was very different to the typical audience that former professionals will tell stories to on the corporate circuit.
Ben and Dan bring insights from their own careers and tell you what really happens inside an England camp. Their aim is to make the game accessible for all, including listeners who might not be rugby experts or feel like the sport is “for them”.
We’ve learned that the podcast is giving new audiences a way to discover the sport. Listening to a podcast on the commute, while cleaning the bathroom, or while cooking in the evening is an easy route into the world of rugby: it’s a low-effort way to keep up with the biggest talking points.
What newcomers learn about the sport in a podcast is enough to chat to fellow fans, allowing them to be welcomed into the rugby fandom with open arms.
Rugby is known, and loved, for its community element, and that side of the podcast is thriving — especially at our live events, where fans can come together and celebrate their shared interests.
Brands who want to target rugby fans should be paying attention. While rugby on the whole may be struggling to attract younger fans, this is exactly the demographic listening to rugby podcasts.
These listeners are highly engaged, and if brands work with podcasters, fans will engage with the brands, too. And, with 2025 promising so much success for the sport, there has never been a better time for brands to get involved.
