Dubai, Mar 21 (UNI) The marquee ICC event held in Pakistan & Dubai has set a new benchmark for viewership in India, emerging as the highest-rated multi-nation cricket tournament in the country’s history.
The tournament outperformed the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 by 23%, reinforcing the ever-growing popularity of the sport in India, according to an ICC media release.
With a total watch time of approximately 250 billion minutes, including 137 billion minutes on Star Sports and 110 billion minutes on JioHotstar, the tournament’s success was driven by several matches to remember, particularly the grand finale between India and New Zealand on 9 March in Dubai.
The final saw peak concurrent viewership reach 122 million on TV and 61 million on JioHotstar, setting a new benchmark for digital viewership in cricket.
The final became the second highest-rated ODI in TV history outside of World Cup matches, drawing 230 million viewers and accumulating 53 billion minutes of watch-time across television and digital platforms.
A key highlight of the tournament was the India-Pakistan league-stage clash in Dubai, which had the audience stuck to their seats and became one of the most-watched ODIs in India.
The high-stakes encounter generated over 26 billion minutes of watch-time on TV, surpassing the India-Pakistan match from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, which had recorded 19.5 billion viewing minutes.
The Champions Trophy match achieved a 10.8% higher television rating, with 206 million people watching the live action on TV.
Speaking about the ratings, ICC Chair Jay Shah said, “The Champions Trophy made an amazing return after eight years and the viewership numbers from India have been overwhelming, in particular the final between India and New Zealand.”
“The incredible viewership numbers highlight the mass appeal that cricket has in India and how taking ICC events to audiences in different languages can significantly boost fan engagement.
“The success of the Champions Trophy marketing strategy is evident, creating excitement in existing and new fanbases, complimented by highly exciting cricket throughout the event.”
The record-breaking numbers can be attributed to JioStar’s extensive coverage, which brought the tournament to audiences across the country in multiple languages.
Matches were broadcast live on Star Sports and Sports 18 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, while digital streaming on JioHotstar featured a record 16 feeds, including nine language options such as Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri and Haryanvi, along with specialised multi-cam and Indian Sign Language feeds.
Jio Star’s CEO, Sports, Sanjog Gupta was elated by the overwhelming numbers that the digital viewership of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 fetched.
“This accomplishment is a result of the combined strength of the widest, most deeply penetrated multi-platform destination for sports, the fan-focussed story-telling approach of the JioStar ‘mega-casts’ and our superior technological capabilities.
“The interest in the tournament was fuelled by a one-of-a-kind cohort-based marketing effort which built diverse apertures for the tournament in order to recruit at scale, differentiated audience segments with distinct persuasions across devices. India’s unbeaten, title-winning campaign, further fuelled the passion of the fans and drove the spike in viewership for the Final.”
UNI XC SSP