Having received a viewership of 110 million for the 2014 World Judo Championships, which took place in the Russian city Chelyabinsk, the accumulated viewership of this year’s edition in Kazakhstan’s capital represents a 72 per cent increase.

France led the television audience figures with 77 million viewers, largely thanks to their star judoka Teddy Riner’s victory in the over 100 kilogram men’s division.

His final triumph over Japan's Ryu Shichinohe saw him clinch the world title for a eighth consecutive time and was one of the most-watched moments of the Championships.

Meanwhile, a total of 67 million viewers tuned in from Japan and were richly rewarded as their country proved to be the most dominant throughout the competition, ending top of the medals table with eight gold, four silver and five bronzes.

The vast rise in audience was aided by an increase in the number of hours broadcast in comparison to 2014, with more than 1,000 hours of live, delayed, highlights and news coverage showing a 147 per cent rise from the Championships in Chelyabinsk.

Eight new broadcasting partners and a new presence in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, North Korea and Sri Lanka also helped the IJF increase the amount of coverage being delivered.

Marius Vizer, IJF President, believes the high quality performances from the judokas were a key reason for the vast viewership increase in just a single year for their flagship event, which saw six days of individual competition before concluding with the team event.

“I am delighted to note that the World Judo Championships found resonance amongst sports fans across the world on an unprecedented scale this year," he said.

“The remarkable quality of action on display has gone a long way in attracting more sports fans to live coverage of judo and created greater understanding of the sport.

“I would like to thank all our television partners for their efforts in taking the sport to wider audiences and raising the profile of judo worldwide.”

In addition, the IJF stated the Championships were watched by a collective audience of 2.5 million viewers via live streaming on their official channel www.ippon.tv, while 44 million event impressions were created across the internet.

The IJF’s Facebook channel reported over 28 million impressions worldwide during the one-week event, including 4.8 million engagements, while content shared through Twitter registered a potential reach of almost one million active users.

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