ICC World Test Championship Final: India Accounted For 94 Percent Viewership; 177 Million People Watched India vs New Zealand Encounter

ICC World Test Championship final witnessed record viewership from around the world. About 177 million people watched the India vs New Zealand encounter, which was played from June 19 to June 24, 2021, at The Rose Bowl cricket stadium in Southampton, England. New Zealand defeated India by 8 wickets and emerged as the champions of the first edition of ICC WTC Championship 2019-21.

Out of the 177 million viewers, the live viewership touched 130.6 million across 89 territories. India had the major share of the viewership, with 94.6 percent of viewers from the country watching the match live on channels Star Sports or Doordarshan TV.

ICC World Test Championship Final Observed Strong Consumption In Viewership: ICC Officer

“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, was quoted as saying in a press release.

Even a country like New Zealand, which has a less population and the match was available very late in the night, accounted for more than 2 lakh viewers among the total audience. ICC’s streaming platform ICC.TV witnessed 6,65,100 live views from over 145 territories.

Digital platforms of ICC observed over 500 million views during the 5 days of ICC World Test Championship. The Facebook page of ICC witnessed the highest viewership with 423 million views and 368 million minutes consumed by the audience.

The reserve day June 24, recorded for the most views on ICC’s Facebook page with 65.7 million views during the 24-hour period. The Instagram page of ICC saw 70 million individual views for ICC World Test Championship final. Contributions from the ICC website, mobile app, Twitter, and YouTube increased the total video views to 515 million.

New Zealand defeated India in the ICC World Test Championship final by overpowering them in both the bowling and batting departments. The Kane Williamson-led side restricted India to just 217 and 170 in both innings.

With a 32-run lead in the first innings, New Zealand got a target of 138 runs in the 2^nd innings to win the match. With brilliant batting shows by Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, New Zealand defeated India by 8 wickets. Kiwi pacer Kyle Jamieson won the player of the match award for his 7 wickets in the match.