London, July 12 (IANS) The World Cup semifinal between India and New Zealand set a new world record by delivering the highest ever concurrent views on Hotstar with a peak of 25.3 million, as per the TV and digital viewing figures released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday.
The previous record was at 18.6 million. In the UK, the event has now reached a unique audience of 20 million people through Sky Sports' live coverage and highlights on Channel 4.
The ICC released TV and digital viewing figures for the World Cup group stages and semifinals, setting new TV and digital records and becoming one of the world's most watched sporting events.
Across ICC's digital and social platforms during the group stages, there have also been an unprecedented 2.6 billion video views.
Meanwhile, the official tournament social channels have added 12 million new followers in the space of six weeks and attracted 386 million engagements with fans. In addition, the official World Cup website (www.cricketworldcup.com) has been visited by 65 million unique users worldwide and has recorded more than 250 million page views.
Through ICC's global broadcast partner Star Sports and other broadcast partners, the event has been televised in over 220 territories on 46 separate TV channels and the group stages were watched by more than 675 million unique viewers.
Continuing the TV viewership records, England's win over India at Edgbaston was the most watched cricket match within the UK across any format since 2006. The match saw a unique audience of 3.45 million on Sky Sports, with the audience peaking at 1.8 million during India's run chase.
In India, the India versus Pakistan match delivered a rating of 14.8 across both Star and DD while the India vs England match delivered 18 million peak concurrent views on Hotstar.
While in South Africa, the viewership is tracking 250 per cent higher than the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 with the most watched match in the group stages being the one between South Africa and Bangladesh. The match saw an average audience of 1.13 million tuning in, as South Africa fought to chase down Bangladesh's first innings score of 330.
Meanwhile, the old rivalry between England and Australia attracted an average audience of 587,000 in Australia, representing an increase of 504 per cent against the same match at the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Both the matches were the most watched for each tournament.
ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said: "We are absolutely delighted that the ICC World Cup has become one of the most watched sporting events in the world across TV and digital platforms. These quite extraordinary numbers demonstrate how viewership habits are changing and the smart way cricket has adapted to deliver what fans today expect."
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