Women’s T20 WC garners 74.9 mn unique audience in India: BARC

The ICC T20 Women’s World Cup 2020 in Australia during February-March this year has set new bench marks in India and worldwide for television audience. In India alone 74.9 million unique audience had reportedly tuned in during the February  21-March 8 event played across four Australia cities.

The final between the hosts Australia and India had accounted for a record 40.97 million unique viewers, while the tournament opener between the two teams on February 21, according to the International Cricket Council, was the second most watched match of the Women’s cricket match in Australia ever.

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The World Cup had garnered 5.3 billion viewing minutes and reached 74.9 million unique viewers, reveals the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India data. Women in India accounted for a high 39% of the 5.3 billion viewing minutes in India.

The final on March 8, which witnessed a meek surrender by the all-conquering Indians resulting in the massive 85-run triumph for the hosts, had aggregated a high 40.97 million unique viewers. The women’s accounted for 40% of the total TV audience for the final.

The BARC data also reveals that the broadcast of the Women’s T20 World Cup final was the most-watched sports genre programme in India for BARC ratings Week 10 (March 7 to 13). The match – broadcast LIVE in India by Star Sports across the Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Kannada, Star Sports 1 Telugu channels – had on Star Sports 1 Hindi alone attracted 4,845,000 as the No. 1 show for the week. The mid-innings show of Star Sports 1 Hindi and simulcast of the match on Star Sports 2 had also figured among the five most-watched sports shows for the week, according to BARC.

The World Cup in the final leg has reportedly registered 1.88 billion viewing minutes with 0.8 billion viewing minutes from females and 1.1 billion viewing minutes from male audience. For the final, 17.3 million reach came from female and 23.7 million reach from male audiences.

ICC had earlier stated that Australia’s opening game against India became the second most-watched women’s match in Australia with a combined average audience of 448,000 across Fox Sports and the Nine Network. The first 12 matches of the tournament had registered 2.46 billion viewing minutes in India, which was a 213% rise in the 787 million total viewing minutes for the same number of Women’s T20 World Cup matches two years ago.

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