United Rugby Championship Achieves Transformative First-Year Results with Eluvio: Slashes Streaming Costs, Dramatically Increases Revenue and Expands Global Audience

• URC TV achieves 62% cost reduction, 64% transaction growth, and 35% revenue increase after switching to Eluvio
  
  
• URC TV delivers direct-to-consumer live multi-view matches, VOD, highlights, and archives to fans on TVs and connected devices via Content Fabric and Eluvio Application Suite
  
  
• Subscribers have grown 2.7X with viewers in 150 countries, over 1.25 million sessions, and an average season watch of 20 hours per viewer

BERKELEY, Calif., April 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of NAB Show 2026, Eluvio and the United Rugby Championship (URC) today announced transformative first-year results for URC TV, demonstrating a new standard for cost-efficiency, fan engagement, and profitability for sports organizations looking to scale and maximize commercial growth.

The United Rugby Championship is a global club rugby league featuring 16 teams from five powerhouse nations—Ireland, South Africa, Wales, Italy, and Scotland. Competing across two hemispheres, URC is a diverse competition reaching a global audience through its premier streaming platform, URC TV (https://urc.tv), powered by Eluvio. Using the Eluvio Content Fabric and Application Suite, URC has successfully transitioned from a high-overhead legacy architecture to next-gen video distribution and monetization that has drastically improved the bottom line while enhancing the fan experience across the globe.

The Need to Shift from High-Cost Legacy Architecture

Prior to partnering with Eluvio, URC TV relied on legacy streaming providers, where operational costs were outpacing ROI, hampering product innovation and growth. Under the prior four-year arrangement, running costs for URC TV made for marginal profitability. 

"In the old world, we were running at extremely high streaming costs and expending a lot of effort for relatively little reward," said Adam Redmond, Media Director at United Rugby Championship. "We knew we wanted to deliver an exceptional fan experience and transformational cost-efficiency. Eluvio already had a proven track record with our partners EPCR TV, and we believed their innovations could deliver, on both the cost and quality side of the equation, to better serve our fan base worldwide."

Transformative First-Year Results 

Through an accelerated migration of URC TV to Eluvio's platform, URC was able to retain its installed base, launch a new subscription service with full continuity for legacy fans, and achieve a record-level of new subscriptions and profitability. With Eluvio, URC TV delivered upgraded picture quality and viewing experiences, accelerated growth, improved marketing efficiency and fan engagement, and increased profitability while also lowering prices.

Redmond continued, "For rights holders without unlimited resources, this is the lesson: the right tech partner is not just a streaming decision, it is a business model decision. Autonomy, cost control, and platform reach are what unlock commercial growth, which is exactly what Eluvio provided to URC TV. Most importantly, Eluvio innovations are all focused on enabling us to drive fan usage and engagement."

Specifically, in its first year using the Content Fabric, URC TV has experienced:

• 62% Reduction in Costs: A massive decrease in operating expenses through a more efficient content delivery model.
• 64% Increased Transactions: Demonstrating higher fan engagement and a more effective commercial funnel.
• 35% Increased Revenue: Significant growth achieved, while simultaneously lowering prices, in all markets to win over more fans.
• Demonstrated Fan Success: Subscribers have grown 2.7X with viewers in 150 countries, over 1.25 million sessions, and an average season watch time of 20 hours per viewer.

"We're honored to play such a key role in the commercial success of URC TV, and believe URC TV is a model for sports leagues and content owners of all sizes around the globe," said Michelle Munson, CEO and co-founder of Eluvio. "We're proving that the Content Fabric can shatter the cost and efficiency boundaries that have held back video over IP for decades, maximize monetization, and expand global distribution and fan engagement. The Eluvio approach significantly simplifies the tech stack while providing maximum efficiency and innovation. Teams, leagues and brands can lessen their operational burden while also delivering an exceptional fan experience and profitability."

URC TV, powered exclusively by the Content Fabric and Application Suite, now serves as a global streaming hub, delivering over 180 live games, instant live-to-VOD, DVR, and highlights to rugby fans in over 150 countries. All content is derived from the live stream with zero copies, thanks to the breakthrough Fabric protocol. Viewers can watch matches on their connected devices and TVs via Eluvio's Media Wallet native apps for Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung, LG, and Roku for a premium lean-back viewing experience. URC TV's user experience on browsers, mobile devices, and TVs are all managed using Eluvio Creator Studio CMS.

For matches, Eluvio receives live source feeds directly from the contribution provider and dynamically ingests, transcodes, publishes and generates just-in-time streaming output directly to fans worldwide including multiple audio channels, and inline strong DRM (Widevine, Fairplay, PlayReady, etc.). Low-latency high-frame rate streaming is provided direct-to-consumers by the Content Fabric with an average serving latency of under 200 milliseconds globally and average playback latencies of 5 seconds at full source resolution with dynamic automatic adaptation to the user's available bandwidth, with unlimited multi-view and "zero-copy" live-to-VoD. Broadcast rights windows are enforced dynamically via Eluvio authorization policies and in-Fabric entitlements.

Additionally, Eluvio Video Intelligence Editor (EVIE) is used to adjust VOD head and tail clipping and directly publish to URC TV instantly, without file copies or re-transcoding. Recently, Eluvio introduced automatic transcription of multi-audio commentary, AI-generated chapters, and in-line play-by-play descriptions through the Eluvio AI stack. After matches, partners can generate streams and search and download clips from the EVIE interface, also without file copies.

Fans purchase season subscriptions and monthly passes, minted upon purchase by Eluvio, and the entire experience is designed for high throughput purchases across the globe. Fans also benefit from a fully-integrated single sign-on using their URC IDs, through the Eluvio Media Wallet, for a seamless experience across browsers and TVs. All sessions are identified with the Media Wallet address and URC ID for audience and transaction analytics and customer engagement. Eluvio Content Analytics also provides URC with complete transparency of source-to-viewer audience, QoS, and sales purchase analytics without third-party applications or intermediaries.

NAB Show 2026

URC TV's technological leadership will be showcased during the NAB Show 2026 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Sunday, April 19 from 2:15-2:45 p.m., during Michelle Munson's presentation on the main stage of the NAB Sports Summit Theatre, West Hall W3643, entitled "Changing the Game: Content Fabric Distribution and Monetization of Live Sports & Archives."

At the NAB Show 2026 from April 19–22, Eluvio will demonstrate the Content Fabric, Applications, and case studies in the upstairs West Hall Meeting Room W237 and AI Innovation Pavilion Booth W2300E. The team will deliver keynotes and hands-on demos throughout the show in the Eluvio Suite in the West Hall W237. On Tuesday, April 21, between 7:30am-9:30am, Michelle Munson will also speak at a broadcaster organized breakfast event titled "The Future of Satellite Replacement" at The Renaissance Hotel, Las Vegas. To schedule a one-on-one meeting with Eluvio at NAB or to learn more, visit https://wallet.contentfabric.io/nab2026.

About Eluvio
Eluvio (https://eluv.io) is solving the generational problems of video over the Internet with its Content Fabric Protocol, a next-generation content distribution and storage protocol transforming the distribution and monetization of premium video and digital media — in contrast to legacy cloud workflows and CDNs. Recognized as NAB Streaming Product of the Year in 2024 and 2025, Eluvio serves innovative sports and entertainment brands including Amazon Studios/MGM, Cricket Australia, European Professional Club Rugby, NBC Universal, SONY, Telstra Broadcast Services, UEFA, United Rugby Championship, Warner Bros., WPALiveTV, WWE, and others.

Eluvio is led by Michelle Munson and Serban Simu, founders and inventors of Aspera. Based in Berkeley, California, with a worldwide team of 40 engineers, scientists, and commercial leaders, Eluvio has won the Seicon Grand Prize and the prestigious Engineering Excellence Award from the Hollywood Professional Association, and holds 15 issued US patents. On X: @EluvioInc | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eluv-io/

SOURCE Eluvio, Inc.