This year has been perhaps the most impactful ever in cricket’s long history, and the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup provided another major victory.
The international championship tournament, held in India, drew a record attendance of 1.25 million, surpassing the prior mark of 1.02 million set for the 2015 event in Australia/New Zealand and smashing the 752,000 who attended the England/Wales tournament in 2019.
“The staggering attendance demonstrates the enduring appeal of cricket and excitement the [one-day international] format continues to offer,” said Chris Tetley, head of events for the International Cricket Council, the sport’s governing body.
Disney’s Hotstar topped 59 million concurrent viewers for the tournament final in which Australia upset the host nation India. The figure set a new record for global on-demand video streaming for the tournament final match and added a whopping 24 million concurrent viewers to a prior streaming record set just last month.
The new records follow months of meteoric growth for cricket, a run that includes inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics, the U.S. hosting the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, the debut of Major League Cricket in America, heightened investor interest in team deals, and the completion of lucrative media rights contracts.
