The recent India-Pakistan match in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai has become the most-watched T20 match in the history of cricket. Wednesday marked a month of Pakistan’s tremendous win over India in the high octane match of the T20 World Cup.
Pakistan had won the match by 10 wickets, breaking the jinx of not winning matches against India in the ICC World Cups. The India, Pakistan clash was the opening match of the T20 World Cup. The match broke all the viewership records as it generated a record television reach of 167 million and record consumption of 15.9 billion minutes in India on the Star India Network.
The match broke the previous record of the most-viewed India-West Indies semi-final match of the ICC event in ICC.
The India vs Pakistan match in the recent ICC Men's T20 World Cup is the most viewed T20I match in history, exceeding the previous high of the India-West Indies semi-final match from the 2016 edition. (ICC release)
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) November 25, 2021
ICC states that more than 10,000 hours of live coverage-more than ever before- was offered across TV and digital platforms in 200 countries.
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“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.”
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 delivers record viewership globally
All details here 👇🏾https://t.co/BWApJLWK6j
— ICC Media (@ICCMediaComms) November 25, 2021
In the UK, the viewership for the India-Pakistan match increased by 60 percent on Sky UK whereas the overall viewership for the market got up by 7 percent.
Three channels ARY, PTV, and Ten Sports broadcasted the match which further increased the viewership by 7.3% compared to the 2016 edition of the event.
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In Australia, the viewership increased by 175 percent on Fox Network. In the USA it become the most-watched cricket tournament on ESPN.
ICC’s partnership with Facebook also increased viewership with a total of 4.3 billion views of the tournament.