Dubai, November 4: India’s group match against Pakistan in Birmingham was the most-watched game in the history of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, as the 2026 edition in England drew a record 471 million viewing hours across its 33 matches.
The India-Pakistan fixture alone generated more than 77 million viewing hours worldwide, and the ICC says early indications suggest it is the most-watched women’s T20 match ever played.
India featured in all four of the most-watched matches in the tournament’s history. Behind India vs Pakistan came Australia vs India (54 million viewing hours), South Africa vs India (51 million) and Bangladesh vs India (42 million). All four passed the previous record for a single Women’s T20 World Cup match.
Viewing hours up 156 per cent
The total of 471 million viewing hours is 156 per cent higher than the 184 million recorded for the 2024 edition.
In the host country, the tournament was the most-watched Women’s T20 World Cup on Sky Sports, with 18.2 million viewing hours. England matches had an average audience of 381,000, a rise of 69 per cent on the previous edition, and the final between England and Australia peaked at 678,000.
A total of 245,815 spectators attended across 25 matchdays, more than 100,000 above the previous attendance record for the event. The crowd of 28,887 at Lord’s for the final was the largest for a women’s cricket match in the United Kingdom.
Tournament content on the ICC’s digital platforms drew 3.2 billion views, nearly 250 per cent more than in 2024. More than 80 creators from nine countries took part in the ICC Creator Club, producing over 2,000 posts and more than 1.1 billion views. The JioStar-ICC creator stream accounted for 600 million of those views.
$93.8 million impact for the UK
An independent assessment by Nielsen put the tournament’s total impact for the UK at $93.8 million. The figure includes direct and secondary economic impact and media value for host cities. More than 13,000 full-time and part-time roles were created or supported during the event.
Separate Nielsen research among people who followed the tournament found that 81 per cent of 500 parents of girls aged seven to 15 felt it had helped change the idea that cricket is only for men. Among 500 women aged 16 to 30, the figure was 73 per cent. Eighty-one per cent of the parents said it had made their daughters more interested in joining a cricket club or academy.
What the ICC said
ICC Chairman Jay Shah said: “The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 has made a powerful statement about the future of the women’s game. This tournament delivered record crowds, viewership, reach and engagement, and demonstrated what is possible when women’s cricket is given the platform, investment and belief it deserves.”
He added: “This is not the end point of our ambition; it is the platform for what comes next. The ICC will continue to invest in women’s cricket, expand opportunity, strengthen pathways and take the game to more fans, more communities and more markets around the world.”
ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta said: “Nearly 250,000 in-stadia attendees, almost 500 million total global viewing hours and more than four billion digital video views are powerful measures of the global attention the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 commanded.”
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