The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Breaks Audience Records In First Few Days

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 is off to a flying start, with new crowd, broadcast and digital coverage benchmarks set across the first six matches and four days of competition.

The tournament, in its seventh edition and being held in Australia, started on February 21 and runs to March 8.

Organisers reported a host of audience milestones:

• The opening match between Australia and India at Sydney Showground Stadium on Friday, February 24 attracted a crowd of 13,432, more than tripling the record attendance for a women’s international cricket match in Australia – 4,131 at a Women’s Ashes T20I at Manuka Oval, Canberra in 2017.
• The crowd for the double-header at the WACA Ground in Perth on February 24, which featured Australia v Sri Lanka and India v Bangladesh, was 5,280, the highest ever for a women’s cricket match in Western Australia.
• Australia v India was the second most-watched women’s cricket match ever on television in Australia, with a combined average audience of 448,000 across broadcasters 9GEM and Fox Cricket.
• The tournament has already amassed more video views on ICC digital channels than any previous ICC women’s event. Match highlights from the Australia v India opening match is the most-watched video clip on ICC digital channels so far, with the second most-watched clip being the West Indies v Thailand match highlights.

The tournament has witnessed several notable ‘firsts’ on the field of play, including Thailand making its ICC World Cup debut; South Africa beating England for the first time at an ICC event; and New Zealander Sophie Devine becoming the first batter ever – male or female – to score six T20I scores of more than 50 in succession, with an unbeaten 75 in New Zealand’s opening match v Sri Lanka.

The final will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on International Women’s Day.