ICC World Test Championship final smashes viewership records
The ICC WTC final between India and New Zealand in Southampton was the most watched across all series that were part of the inaugural championship cycle. Notably, the summit clash garnered a global audience of 177 million. The live viewership of the final had reached 130.6 million across 89 territories. India contributed with most of the audience from Star Sports and national broadcaster Doordarshan.
'ICC always strives to give the best possible viewership experience'
"The viewership data for broadcast and digital coverage of the ICC World Test Championship Final presents a really heartening picture, showing strong consumption across territories and languages as well as formats," ICC Chief Commercial Officer Anurag Dahiya said. "The ICC always strives to give the best possible viewership experience and will continue to invest in resources that enhance the viewing pleasure."
The viewership from Star Sports and Doordarshan
The Indian audience from Star Sports and Doordarshan tallied a whopping 94.6 per cent viewership. Besides providing the world feed in English language, Star also produced local-language feeds in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.
Viewership in New Zealand and England
The viewership was also remarkable in New Zealand. Over 2,00,000 people watched the Kiwis battle it out against the Indians in the all-important final. In the United Kingdom (UK), broadcaster Sky Sports recorded the highest-rated match in the 2019-2021 WTC cycle (for a match not involving England). Notably, the Reserve Day also fetched most viewership (of a non-England Test since 2015).
OTT and digital platforms increased the viewership
The launch of ICC's OTT platform ICC.tv resulted in 6,65,100 live views from over 145 territories outside of the key broadcast markets (14 million viewing minutes). ICC's digital platforms had a total of 500 million views across all video content watched during the match. Besides, Facebook provided 423 million views and 368 million minutes on the ICC page.
The other sources of viewership
Most views were record on The Reserve Day across the ICC Facebook page on a single day. This accounted for 65.7 million views, eclipsing the 64.3 million during the Women's T20 WC 2020 final. Instagram added another 70 million individual views. Meanwhile, the ICC website and mobile app, as well as ICC's channels on Twitter and YouTube, took the total views to 515 million.
New Zealand beat India in the WTC final
New Zealand beat Team India in the ICC World Test Championship final at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. With the rain-hit Test match getting into the sixth day (reserve), India were outplayed as the Kiwis were top-notch with the ball. India were bowled out for 217 and 170 in the two innings, while the Kiwis chased down a paltry target of 139.
