ICC World Cup 2023 nears 60 bn minutes of viewership

Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, has witnessed significant growth in viewership for the first 11 matches of ICC CWC 2023 - including two matches played by the Men in Blue- vs Australia and Afghanistan. The tournament has clocked more than 59 billion minutes of watch-time (viewership), a growth of 22% compared to the 2019 edition. Additionally, the consumption among premium audiences witnessed remarkable growth with audiences in NCCS A witnessing a growth of 40% and NCCS B growing by 24%. Live broadcast for the first 11 matches of the tournament has been watched by 268 million viewers with 96 million young working professionals (aged 22-40) tuning in, which is 5% higher than the 2019 edition. The peak live concurrency for the tournament is 56 million viewers, registered during the India v Australia match in Chennai on October 8.

 Star Sports has been producing 11 feeds for ICC Men’s CWC 2023, which includes feeds in 9 different languages (English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada & Malayalam) and two additional vertical feeds (Max View) for Disney+ Hotstar. The overall broadcast of the tournament has been enriched by offering a range of non-live programming shows. 'Follow the Blues,' 'Game Plan,' ‘Match Point’ and ‘Cheeky Singles’ served in-depth analyses and captivating build-up to the tournament, allowing fans to dive deeper into the world of cricket. The broadcaster also launched a fan-centric campaign, stoking the dreams of millions with the aspiration of India winning the coveted World Cup trophy again. A star-studded list of top celebrities such as Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ravi Teja, Shiva Rajkumar, Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Kangana Renaut, and many more, shared their love and admiration for the sport and their favorite Indian Cricketers on Cricket Live, India’s most-watched Cricket Show. As the excitement continues to build, India is set to face New Zealand on 22^nd October 2023, followed by India vs England on 29^th October 2023.