Women's World Cup final broke records of TV audience

The fact that women’s cricket is on the rise now was highlighted by the record 1.1 million UK TV audience that tuned in to watch England lift the World Cup at Lord’s. This year’s Women’s World Cup was not just an eye-opener for countries in Asia but a successful campaign worldwide. The tournament as a whole was considered to be a huge success as it generated new-found levels of enthusiasm for the women’s game, like never seen before.

Heather Knight’s side beat India by nine runs in a dramatic thriller on Sunday, with Anya Shrubsole taking six wickets, to be the first woman to take a six-fer in a World Cup final. The viewing figures are the highest for any women’s cricket match in this country and beat the audience for last month’s Champions Trophy final between India and Pakistan by 400,000.

Both matches were broadcast in the UK by Sky Sports, who also hold the rights for Test cricket in this country – the final day of the recent clash between England and South Africa peaked at 370,000.

Equaled average audience of a Premier League match

The 1.1M figure is the same as the average audience of a Premier League football match in the lucrative Sunday afternoon slot during the 2016-17 season, according to statistics from the Broadcasters Audience Research Board. The global reach of Sunday’s final is yet to be discovered, with the International Cricket Council delaying the release of viewing figures until later this week. But India recorded over 1.5 million views towards the end on Hotstar online streaming alone.

The Times reports that more than 150M fans watched at least part of the captivating clash at the Home of Cricket. Moreover, Lord’s was sold out for the match. Even though MCC members were criticized after swathes of seats in the famous pavilion were left empty, there were 26,500 in attendance to see England win the World Cup for the fourth time.

The ICC revealed that the global TV audience for group matches exceeded 50M – 80 percent higher than the last World Cup four years ago, with the UK viewing figures 51 percent up on 2013. Women’s cricket has clearly stamped its authority all over the world with these astounding numbers.