ITV's Rugby World Cup is already the most watched sporting event of 2015.

Statistics from the Rugby World Cup reveal that over eight million people tuned into watch England beat Fiji 35-11 on Friday night. This figure more than quadrupled those who watched the first game in the last 2011 World Cup. 

According to Nielsen data the number of people who watched the opening ceremony this year, more than doubled to those who tuned into ITV to watch it in 2011 from New Zealand. 

While the Friday night figures are below the 14.4 million who saw England vs. Italy in last year's Football World Cup, the The Guardian reported that ITV hope that this Saturday's England vs. Wales will beat it. 

Since losing out to BT Sport for the rights to broadcast this season's Champion's League, there is hope that this year's Rugby viewing figures will put the channel back on the sport broadcasting map as audiences have soared since they covered the World Cup in 2011. 

The rise of social media has led to an increased number of people discussing the games on online platforms. 

According to the Rugby World Cup, #RWC2015 trended over 300,000 times on Instagram, reached 15 million on Facebook and made 181 impressions on Twitter, most of which occurred after Japan beat South Africa 34-32 on Saturday night.

City A.M. revealed that this World Cup is to be the second highest attended event, after the Fifa football World Cup in 2014.

The next game will broadcast on ITV on Wednesday 23 September at 2.30pm with Scotland vs. Japan.