World Cup 2023: Big boost to economy with packed stadiums and rise in viewership

World Cup 2023: The 2023 edition of ICC Men's Cricket World Cup has seen the most number of viewership and spectator attendance. As per ICC chief commercial officer Anurag Dahiya, digital viewership, both on streaming platforms and social media, is growing even as TV viewership continues to hold strong.

"I don't get a sense that the numbers are down for TV. The debate over whether digital is taking viewership away from TV is futile. A large chunk of what is going digital is ending up on TV as well. Viewing is also happening on connected TVs," said Dahiya

India vs New Zealand Semi-Finals

The India vs New Zealand semi-finals had the highest peak concurrency of 53 million. Peak Concurrency is the maximum logged in at the same time. All over the tournament the first 42 matches saw millions of fans flocking to stadiums in 10 different cities.

Digital vs TV streaming

The ICC chief commercial officer also said that bifurcating TV and digital in India is extremely hard and so there is a need to look at the overall numbers. As per Disney Star that has the streaming right in India, compared to 2019 World Cup, this year the consumption for the first 34 matches is up 10% to 244 billion minutes and the average time spent on TV is up 12% to 568 minutes per viewer.

Also Read: ICC World Cup 2023: Indian economy may see Rs 20,000 crore boost, says Bank of Baroda research

The live broadcast of the first 34 matches also reached 450 million audiences while new peak concurrency was recorded digitally, as per Dahiya. He further added that the ICC's vertical video streaming innovation, MaxView, has been a success and has helped the Disney+ Hotstar platform grow its viewership base. Similarly, Facebook - ICC's exclusive digital content rights partner has seen 12 billion video views, which is four times the 2019 numbers.

Though the sponorship revenue and World Cup's impact on economy is not yet clear, ICC has hired Nielsen to measure how much the event has impacted the economy. The report is expected to be released two-three months after the World Cup. The 2019 edition of the World Cup contributed an estimated Rs 3,600 crore to the UK's economy.