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The extravagant 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 World Cup 2023 crossed the 1 trillion barrier for total viewing minutes on broadcast, which included new technological innovations such as the vertical video feed. The prestigious tournament witnessed a hike of 38% from the 2011 edition in India and by 17% compared to the previous World Cup in England in 2019. The final match of the 2023 World Cup between India and Australia lived up to its billing by becoming the most-watched ICC match with 87.6 billion live viewing minutes all over the world, growing 46% from the last time the hosts reached the final in 2011. The hosts, India contributed significantly to the eye-catching 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 of the host country, there was significant growth in broadcast numbers, most significantly in the United Kingdom and Australia. The UK saw 800 hours of live coverage, resulting in over 5.86 billion minutes of live viewing. Meanwhile, Australia contributed 3.79 billion minutes of viewing from 602 hours of live coverage, marking 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 three-million rise from 2019. Meanwhile, Pakistan achieved unprecedented viewership, recording a total of 237.12 billion viewing minutes of live content. 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. On social media, a fun reimagination of Glenn Maxwell's resurrection from pain against Afghanistan garnered a massive 50 million views. Star India batter Virat Kohli too wasn't left far behind, with the video of his hug with idol Sachin Tendulkar attracting 40 million views on Instagram after breaking his ODI centuries record, which gained 78 million views. When Kohli picked up a wicket against the Netherlands' Scott Edwards contributed 39 million video plays on Instagram. (ANI)
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