288 million viewers in India tune in to watch Ind v/s Pak

The most anticipated clash of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 created Indian television history as 288 million viewers (TAM data CS4+ extrapolated to the universe using a standard conversion factor) tuned in to watch India take on Pakistan on February 15, 2015. The game was the most watched television event in India in the last four years, since the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

The match between arch rivals rated 14.8 TVR (TAM data M15+ ABC) across Star network including DD. The match rated 11.9 TVR (TAM data M15+ ABC) on Star network and 2.9 TVR (TAM data M15+ ABC) on DD. The India Pakistan game delivered across town classes led by the top 6 Metros rating 17.2 TVR and 1million+ towns rating 15.5TVR (All data TAM data M15+ ABC).

Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India, said, “Nothing is bigger than the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Indian fans have shown their unflinching faith and passionate following for Team India as they began their World Cup campaign with a bang. As the country’s leading broadcaster, our efforts have been to showcase the best of cricket, have wider coverage, offer multiple languages and take the sport deeper by reinventing the viewer experience. With a host of innovations, we are committed to make this edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup the biggest ever.”

Star unleashed a host of innovations for the biggest spectacle in the country. The first ever broadcast in six languages of the India Pakistan game received 76% of the viewership from Hindi and regional feeds and the balance 24% from English validating the multi-lingual strategy pioneered by Star.

A disruptive ‘Mauka’ Campaign, which went beyond cricket on the field and leveraged fan passion in a unique way, went viral with over 17 million views online. Star roped in the biggest voice in Indian cinema, Amitabh Bachchan, for India’s biggest game as he debuted as a commentator with the Star Sports panel of Kapil Dev, Shoaib Akhtar, Rahul Dravid and Sanjay Manjrekar for the India Pakistan game at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Unmatched in its sheer scale, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 broadcast is bolstered by new look graphics, a first ever global broadcast of cricket in 4k and the best of experts on the commentary panel with 13 World Cup captains, 20 World Cup winners and 26 World Cup semi-finalists. With nearly 4 million households having access to HD, Star Sports aired the games across a network of 4 HD channels including the newly launched Star Sports HD3, India’s first all Hindi HD channel for sports. The epic encounter created global history by recording more than 25 million views on Star’s digital platforms- the highest ever for a sports event on a single day across the world.

The India Pakistan clash at the World Cup took Social Media in India by storm. 324,000 consumers spoke 500,000 times about the match, generating a potential 3 billion impressions. The match dominated conversations on Twitter, with 10/10 trends on Twitter Web, and 15/15 trends on Twitter Mobile, India spoke about nothing else. Indian fans were hopeful of India’s victory, and #Indwins was used 90,000 times, starting well before the game ended. The Star Sports campaign #wontgiveitback was used 24,000 times, and the second instalment of the Mauka Mauka campaign was viewed half a million times within hours of its release!