The ICC Champions Trophy was already historic in many ways, first making an appearance after eight years, then India winning its much-deserved title in the finals, and now, the spectacular viewership records. The tournament has now achieved a remarkable viewership record in India and has become the most-watched multi-nation cricket tournament in the country’s history. The tournament saw an increase of 23% from the last ICC Men’s World Cup in 2023, showing the sport’s immense popularity in India.
ICC released the official viewership numbers on Friday, and the results will boggle your mind. Approximately 250 billion minutes across all platforms have been recorded with 137 billion minutes on Star Sports and 110 billion minutes on JioHotstar. The final match was a thrilling game because of the top two teams, India and New Zealand pre-existing rivalry in the finals.
Just the final match of the ICC Champions Trophy held on 9 March in Dubai, the viewership peaked at 132 million live streams on TV and 61 million on JioHotstar, setting a new record for digital cricket viewership in India. It also became the second-highest-rated ODI in TV history (excluding World Cup matches), attracting a total of 230 million viewers, and generating 53 billion minutes of watch time across all platforms.
Another much-anticipated match, India vs Pakistan attracted a total of 26 billion minutes of watch time on TV which is a significant increase from previous encounters of both teams during the World Cup.
The ICC chair, Jay Shah, said, “The Champions Trophy made an amazing return after eight years and the viewership numbers from India have been overwhelming, in particular the final between India and New Zealand. The incredible viewership numbers highlight the mass appeal that cricket has in India and how taking ICC events to audiences in different languages can significantly boost fan engagement.”
Sanjog Gupta, CEO of Sports, JioHotstar also commented on the accomplishment and said, “This accomplishment is a result of the combined strength of the widest, most deeply penetrated multi-platform destination for sports, the fan-focussed story-telling approach of the JioStar ‘mega-casts’ and our superior technological capabilities.”
“The interest in the tournament was fuelled by a one-of-a-kind cohort-based marketing effort which built diverse apertures for the tournament in order to recruit at scale, differentiated audience segments with distinct persuasions across devices. India’s unbeaten, title-winning campaign, further fuelled the passion of the fans and drove the spike in viewership for the Final,” he added
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