T20 World Cup: The clash between India and Pakistan is the most watched T20I of all time
With almost 10,000 hours of live coverage on TV and digital platforms in 200 countries, the men's ICC T20 World Cup 2021 drew a record number of viewers worldwide, the global cricket umbrella organization announced on Thursday. The tournament returned after five years and saw an increase in attendance and consumption in India, Pakistan, the UK, Australia and the US strategic market.
The event, the largest cricket tournament of all time in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, broke audience records in multiple regions, including record television viewing of 167 million and record consumption of 15.9 billion minutes in India on the Star India Network. for the eagerly anticipated battle between India and Pakistan.
The encounter is now the most watched T20I match in history and surpasses the previous high of the India-West India semi-final from the 2016 edition of the ICC event in India.
Total TV consumption for the entire tournament in India was measured at 112 billion minutes, despite India's early exit from the tournament. Meanwhile, digital consumption for the tournament at Disney + Hotstar in India saw explosive growth, adding significantly to the total number of television viewers in the market.
"We are excited about these outstanding global audience figures, which demonstrate the ability of T20I Cricket to attract huge audiences around the world on linear and digital platforms," said ICC CEO Geoff Allardice in a press release.
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“It reinforces our belief that there is a great opportunity and appetite in our strategic growth markets, including the US, to grow the game so more fans can enjoy it, more children can be inspired, and sponsors and broadcasters can be a part of it want to be of it, "he added. In the UK, Sky UK's India-Pakistan game grew 60 percent while the total audience for the market increased 7 percent.
In Pakistan, the event was broadcast by three actors for the first time, namely PTV, ARY and Ten Sports, which led to a further 7.3 percent increase in viewership compared to the 2016 edition. The ICC's partnership with Facebook was a driver of the sharp increase in video views, with a total of 4.3 billion views across all channels of the tournament, compared to 3.6 billion views for the 2019 edition of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
The consumption of ICC's digital assets also grew, totaling 2.55 billion minutes. ICC's social media channels also saw a significant increase in engagement with 618 million on these platforms, an increase of 28 percent since the men's Cricket World Cup 2019 was held.