Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts
 

ICC Women's World Cup sets viewership records globally; 156mn people watched in India

In what could be termed as another confidence booster for women's cricket, recently concluded ICC Women's World Cup 2017 witnessed a whopping increase in its viewership.

ICC Women's World Cup sets viewership records globally

New Delhi, Aug 10: In what could be termed as another confidence booster for women's cricket, recently concluded ICC Women's World Cup 2017 witnessed a whopping increase in its viewership.

As per a latest ICC release, the global viewing hours for Women's World Cup grew by almost three times. It saw a five-time surge in India as India women's national cricket team reached the finals.

The women's cricket witnessed almost eight times rise in South Africa and increases in UK and Australia too.

As per the ICC release, "More than 180 million people around the world are estimated to have watched this summer's ICC Women's World Cup and there was an almost 300% increase in viewing hours in comparison to the last edition in 2013. There was significant growth in audiences in all territories, but particularly impressive was an eight-fold increase in viewing hours in South Africa and a huge increase in viewers in India, particularly in rural areas, since 2013."

The ICC's decision to ensure that every match was available for viewing either on television or via live-streaming has paid rich dividends.

"An extraordinary 156 million people viewed the event in India, of which 80 million was rural reach and 126 million was for the final alone. India's fine performances contributed to a 500% increase in viewing hours in their country," added the release.

Mithali Raj-led Indian side went from strength to strength in the global tournament as they defeated all top three ODI sides i.e. Australia, England and New Zealand in the tournament.

In the United Kingdom, the World Cup final attracted most viewers for any televised cricket this summer, while the entire event saw a 300% increase in terms of viewing hours compared to last time.

Similarly, there has been a 131% increase in viewing hours in Australia while it is a whopping 861% in South Africa after its team reached the semifinals for the first time.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson was elated with the staggering numbers and said: "We are absolutely delighted with the impact the Women's World Cup has had. Instinctively we felt that the time was right to invest in women's cricket and take it to the widest possible audience to accelerate the growth of the game and these numbers have confirmed that.

"We congratulate all eight teams for providing the entertainment, the cricket was competitive and compelling and when you have that it makes it much easier to attract an audience. The sport must now work collectively to maintain interest and continue to drive growth."

myKhel.com News

Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2017, 15:50 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 10, 2017