Picture Credit: ICC
The ICC World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand was a much anticipated event from June 18- June 23 and caught global attention. And now as per the latest data released by the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC), the inaugural WTC final has become the most viewed Test match since 2018. Numbers suggest that the match was viewed by 99 million people on TV.
The average minute audience or AMA of the match was 7.4 million. Notably, the television audience measurement service defines AMA as the number of individuals of a target audience who view an event, averaged across minutes.
Test cricket is here to stay, suggest numbers
"After a long wait of 144 years, a world champion for Tests will be crowned and this makes the WTC Final a marquee property. We are expecting the WTC Finals to be the most-watched game, keeping in mind the weekend and also a prime time slot – the attention and pent-up demand are something advertisers are capitalizing on," Anil Jayaraj, Executive Vice President, Star Sports was earlier quoted by Moneycontrol.
"First with their win in Australia and then their victory against England at home. Their performance during the India-England series resulted in receiving the highest Test match viewership in the last four years," Jayaraj added.
It is now being speculated that had India been in a position to win the Test, the viewership would have received a further boost. However, despite India's loss the viewership did not fall down. The numbers indicate that Test cricket is here to stay for now.