India vs Pakistan most-watched T20 in history: ICC

DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday revealed that the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup Super 12 match in Dubai set a new record for the most views with 15.9 billion minutes in India alone.

The tournament itself garnered record viewership of 167 million as nearly 10,000 hours of live coverage was offered across TV and digital platforms in 200 countries, foreign media reported. In Pakistan, the event was being broadcast by three media outlets, which led to further growth in viewership by 7.3 percent compared to the 2016 edition of the event.

The match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan proved to be a one-sided affair but that didn't deter the fans from it as they consumed 15.9 billion minutes on the Star India Network, surpassing the previous high of the India vs West Indies semi-final match from the 2016 edition of the ICC event held in India, the game's governing body said.

The overall TV consumption for the full tournament in India was recorded at 112 billion minutes, this despite India’s early exit from the tournament. “We are pleased with these outstanding global viewership numbers, that demonstrate the power of T20I cricket to attract a huge audience across the globe on linear and digital platforms,” ICC CEO Geoff Allardice said in a release.

“It reinforces our belief that there is a significant opportunity and appetite to grow the game in our strategic growth markets including the USA, so more fans can enjoy it, more kids are inspired by it and sponsors and broadcasters want to be a part of it.”

In Australia, the viewership increased by 175 percent on the Fox Network. In the USA, which the ICC recently named as one of the focus markets for the sport, the tournament was the most viewed cricket tournament ever on ESPN+.

The ICC’s partnership with Facebook was a driver for the significant increase in video views, with a total of 4.3 billion views across all channels for the tournament, compared to 3.6 billion views which were garnered for the 2019 edition of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.

The consumption across digital assets also grew, recording a total of 2.55 billion minutes. ICC’s social media channels also saw a significant growth in engagement at 618 million across those platforms, which is a 28 percent jump since the 2019 edition of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.