India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match becomes most viewed T20I match ever

The International Cricket Council on Thursday revealed that the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup Super 12 match in Dubai set a new record for the most views with 15.9 billion minutes in India alone.

The match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan proved to be a one-sided affair but that didn't deter the fans from it as they consumed 15.9 billion minutes on the Star India Network, surpassing the previous high of the India vs West Indies semi-final match from the 2016 edition of the ICC event held in India, the game's governing body said.

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The overall TV consumption for the full tournament in India was recorded at 112 billion minutes, this despite India's early exit from the tournament.

"We are pleased with these outstanding global viewership numbers, that demonstrate the power of T20I cricket to attract a huge audience across the globe on linear and digital platforms," ICC CEO Geoff Allardice said in a release.

In Pakistan, the event was being broadcast by three players for the first time namely PTV, ARY and Ten Sports, which led to further growth in viewership by 7.3 percent compared to the 2016 edition of the event.

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In Australia, the viewership increased by 175 percent on the Fox Network. In the USA, which the ICC recently named as one of the focus markets for the sport, the tournament was the most viewed cricket tournament ever on ESPN+.

The ICC's partnership with Facebook was a driver for the significant increase in video views, with a total of 4.3 billion views across all channels for the tournament, compared to 3.6 billion views which were garnered for the 2019 edition of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.