In the warm light of June evening and with the warmth of the good fire, a one time cricketer in his pre posterity stage brings his grandchildren closer to a flickering television set. They are not just here to witness a cricket match but to be a part of a global event i. e. ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
The moving camera pans across the cheerful faces of people of different nationalities, their painted faces shining with anticipation of the heroes created in the small span of overs that can hardly last as long as a single uttered breath and the old man’s eyes light up as he wells up a whole history of previous matches.
It is a collective hum, a low but audible buzz that permeates communities, as it does the streets, the markets selling everything from fish to bread, as it does the living rooms, the bedrooms, the kitchens, the dining rooms of homes in towns and cities in the globalized world. It is not simply a competition, it is the event for unification of stratifying cultures and languages people around the world now have, it is the celebration of unity that echoes to the overtures of cricket.
Competition is even more intense this year and the group targeting network is even broader. Cricket has evolved with the new world, it has gone beyond the conventional television streaming and broadcasting in numerous languages and virtual reality to gadgets and smartphone and live updates of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 being a hall mirror of a global place for sports.
Review of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022
The T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup in Australia in the year 2022 reached unattainable heights in terms of viewership across the world and engagement on social media platforms. According to the latest statistics updated on ICC- cricket website and New Zealand cricket players association each team has a different record. Actually, the entire tournament reached a significant level. 28 million followers on ICC Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube accounts, 58 billion video views. This is 65% more as compared to the viewership numbers of the 2021 edition, which indicates a massive trend of growing digital consumption among the cricket lovers globally.
This is a view that was echoed by the platforms that witnessed a 78 as the digital footprint of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It was estimated that the event attracted many unique visitors to the page as indicated below The total number of unique visitors = 4,000,000. Not only that, but this number has also turned into a new record when comparing it with the previous year; moreover, it has increased by 57% which means there is a more robust and extensive presence of digital technology.
Returning to the native country, regarding the kind of coverage that is normally associated with the broadcast of tournaments, the tournament did not disappoint. Overall, it embodied a cumulative global television viewership of 1. 28 billion. Consumption of matches in India clearly demonstrated that Indians are avid cricket fans as the most-watched match of the tournament, India vs Pakistan, received 256 million viewing hours in India alone. The percentage increase in average live linear TV viewership was evident in India due to multi-lingual broadcasts carried by the Star Network and Hotstar, which saw the figures rise by 4%.
These energetic performances captured an increase in both digital and traditional viewership that further reinforces the popularity of T20 cricket across the world. Cricket’s digital followership – indicated by the reach and engagement figures – to the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup set a high bar for subsequent events.
ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Viewership
The upcoming ICC T20 world cup 2024, hosted by USA and the West Indies, is set to surpass previous viewership records with innovative accessibility features and free mobile streaming on Disney+Hotstar expanding its global audience.
Factors Affecting ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Viewership
The viewership of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is expected to be significantly influenced by several key factors:
- Global Reach and Accessibility: The event will have considerable airtime on purpose-built stations as well as on multiple languages, making it easier for people all around the world to watch it. Past editions have also recorded an increase in viewership by the extension of it in diverse languages and being available for streaming without costs on Disney+ Hotstar.
- Digital Consumption: The trends have also observed an improvement in shifting towards the digital view with some giants like Disney+ Hotstar and ESPN+ streaming a large number of viewers. It is projected that it will rise further, thanks to the collaborations with such large social networks such as Facebook which has multiplied video views and engagements.
- High-Profile Matches: It is true that cricket lovers see the World Cup like a spectacular display of power of major cricketing nations particularly the India-Pakistan matches have enjoyed record viewership. Such occasions form often the high points of a tournament and result with a distinct increase in viewership figures.
- Market Expansion: He further highlighted the ICC’s core strategies of growth to be targeting the penetration of cricket’s key growth markets such as the USA. Not only are new territories incorporated, thus making the show more viewership friendly, but it increases the exposure of the sport to untapped markets.
- Technological Enhancements and Innovations: New technologies and communication approaches would enhance engagement such as presenting the event through multiple camera angles, using virtual reality for 360-degree view and interactive digital features are expected to appeal to the young generation and enrich their experience.
- Performance of Host Nations: This increases the interest and viewership by the hosts making it even more engaging for them to participate. Cricket World Cup 2024 is co-hosted by USA and West Indies, that means much focus is given for the performance of these teams and as a result spectators may increase in these areas.
Comparison with Other Major Sports Events
The ICC T20 World Cup has been even more popular and has remained a theatrical showpiece event for millions of fans globally. COVID-19 forced the tournament organizers to postpone the 2020 event, but the next year’s event, the 2024 edition, looks set to take this tradition to unprecedented levels given the number of people who will be tuned in.
Viewership Growth: Over the years, both the Men’s and Women’s Cricket World Cups have seen significant increases in viewership. The 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup held in the India emerged as the biggest television event in India, with Disney Star Network figures revealing that viewers consumed 422 billion minutes of the tournament. This marked a 54% increase from 2011 and 9% increase from 2019. Similarly, the Women’s Cricket World Cup has also standardized itself alongside the men’s competition, drawing in record numbers of viewers and emphasizing the sport’s escalating popularity. Annual attendance figures for international cricket further underscore the growing craze for the game, particularly in countries where cricket transcends the realm of being merely a sporting activity.
By comparison, cricket and especially events such as the T20 World Cup, offers a different audienceship profile where India, Pakistan, and Australia, among others, might become highly engaged in the consumption of cricket in a way that may not occur with global events such as the FIFA World League or Olympics. For example, the final match of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup was watched by 130 million people, and Indian and Australian cricket teams’ match was viewed simultaneously by 59 million people on Disney + Hotstar.
Digital Transformation: The change in the pattern of viewership, now going mostly digital, has also been observed. The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is also likely to build on this trend tremendously as a large percentage of the viewership is likely to tune in to watch the games through online streaming services. This shift to digital platforms is a tactical decision as there has been a trend especially with the viewers towards more flexibility and option for programs that can be accessed via device and location.
Engagement on Digital Platforms: In addition, the culture of watching surfing does not remain only in the number of viewers but also in their active interaction in the electronic space. Another advantage associated with digital platforms is that they consist of engaging content, which ensures that the viewers are drawn to the tournament too, and they are able to stay throughout. In the context of the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, if one considers digital interactions, then the data is a bit higher with 16. Organizers and brands reached 9 billion video views on ICC platforms, up 158 per cent from the previous record.
Thus the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 is an embodiment not only for the continuing popularity of cricket but also other strategic factors related to global consumption of sports such as the shift from linear to digital consumption of content and the use of content generating mechanisms to reach out to different consumers spread across the world. Thus, it provides another powerful reference point for understanding how various other major sports events are catering their disparate spectators, as well as how their associated sports themselves are continually changing in response.
Depending on the attention that will be attracted by the next edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 based on the momentum created from the previously mentioned T20 world cup 2022, there is expectation that the tournament could record higher views than that recorded in the previous years.
Applying some principles, the upcoming World Cup could possibly be a landmark in broadcasting cricket as the technology in broadcasting has evolved immensely in marketing and digital media strategies. In India cricket reigns the most among all the games and hence the ICC T20 World Cup is a significant event which sees the lovers of the game and players coming together.
