World Cup 2019 most watched event in cricket history: ICC

Photo: AFP The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the Cricket World Cup 2019 was its most watched event after capturing record global numbers. “The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 was the most watched ICC event ever with a global cumulative average audience of 1.6 billion for live coverage, a 38% increase over the 2015 edition and a unique broadcast audience of 706 million viewers, demonstrating the phenomenal reach and power of live cricket around the world,” read a press release by the sport’s governing body. “The event also recorded a 42% increase in average time watched per unique viewer in comparison to the 2015 Men’s Cricket World Cup.” The press release went on to state that 41% of the audience were women, while the 18 to 34 age range accounted for 32% of the 706 million audience. The event had record global viewing hours of 13.7 billion, an 18% increase from the 2011 Cricket World Cup and a 72% increase from the 2015 event.” The Pakistan-India match was the most watched fixture of the tournament with 273 million unique viewers from around the world tuning into linear TV coverage with over another 50 million digital-only viewers. The release stated that a unique audience of 15.4 million witnessed the most exciting final in Cricket World Cup history via Sky Sports, Sky, Channel 4 and More 4, peaking with 8.92 million unique viewers at 19:29 at the start of the historic Super Over. The final also received the highest viewing hours for a live cricket match on record in the UK with 36.6 million.