Cricket World Cup video content got 4.6 bn views on digital platforms: ICC

ISLAMABAD - According to digital content viewing figures released by The International Cricket Council, Cricket World Cup 2019 emerged as one of the world’s most-watched sporting events.

Video content from the international tournament clocked more than 4.6 billion views, with 3.6 billion of those coming through the ICC’s own channels and a further billion via the global governing body’s official digital clip licensees.

This year’s Cricket World Cup, which was won by hosts England following a dramatic Super Over against New Zealand, marked the first time that the ICC had broadcast content from the tournament across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in an attempt to reach a wider audience.

As a result, 2.3 billion minutes of Cricket World Cup content was viewed on the official ICC YouTube channel. Meanwhile, Facebook saw more than 1.2 billion minutes of tournament content watched, along with ten billion impressions and over 68 million engagements.

On Twitter, there were 31 million tweets mentioning #CWC19, which represented growth of more than 100 per cent on posts including the official hashtag during the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

The most-tweeted match was the India-Pakistan league encounter at Old Trafford, with a figure of 2.9 million Tweets making it the biggest ODI ever on Twitter. The second-most Tweeted match was the final between England and New Zealand with the India-New Zealand semifinal coming in third.

In total, the ICC and Cricket World Cup social media channels attracted 14 million new followers and posted 22,000 pieces of content throughout the event. The governing body’s social media platforms recorded 481 million engagements, with Instagram accounting for more than 60 per cent of those, SportsPro reported.

Elsewhere, there were 75 million unique users on the ICC website and app, the latter of which reached the number one position for sports apps.

“The growth in consumption along with these record-breaking numbers demonstrate the power of cricket to bring together an enormous global audience as well as the increasing appetite of fans to engage with more than just match day content,” said ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney.

“The ICC’s focus on fan engagement, both in terms of deepening existing fan interaction with the sport and bringing new fans to the game has been driven by data and analytics. This enabled us to anticipate and respond to the demands of cricket’s one billion-plus fans around the world and make this World Cup the most digitally consumed ever.”