World Cup 2023 smashes broadcast and digital records

The ODI World Cup 2023 in India became the biggest-ever ICC event, smashing broadcast and digital records, according to the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup breached the 1 trillion barrier for total viewing minutes on broadcast. It was an increase of 38% from the 2011 edition and by 17% compared to the previous World Cup in the United Kingdom in 2019.

The World Cup finale between India and Australia, held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, lived up to its billing by becoming the most-watched ICC match with 87.6 billion live viewing minutes globally, growing 46% from the last time the hosts reached the final in 2011.

India played a gaint role in these staggeringly huge numbers with 422 billion viewing minutes on the Disney Star Network alone, resulting in a whopping 54% increase from 2011 and 9% from 2019.

The surge in female viewership also played a role in the overall growth, increasing from 32% during the 2011 edition to 34% in the 2023 edition. This shift underscored the widespread enthusiasm surrounding the host country’s tournament.

Outside the India, there was a significant growth in broadcast numbers, mostly in UK and Australia. The UK saw 800 hours of live coverage, resulting in over 5.86 billion minutes of live viewing. Australia contributed 3.79 billion minutes of viewing from 602 hours of live coverage, making an increase of 92% from 2011.

Australia’s success at the tournament also meant that 9.1 million people tuned in to watch the 2023 World Cup, a 3 million rise from 2019.

Disney Hotstar’s decision to stream the World Cup for free in India resulted in the record for peak concurrent viewers being broken four times in the tournament, with the final match of the tournament attracting cricket’s highest concurrent audience ever.

The tournament continued to break records on the digital front as well with a stellar 16.9 billion video views making it the most digital engaged ICC event ever.