Mumbai, July 1 (IANS) As Team India took on South Africa in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados, each minute of the action was followed live by cricket fans as much on their mobiles and laptops as on television.
The faceoff that ended India’s ICC trophy drought registered a staggering concurrent viewership of 53 million on the OTT channel Disney+ Hotstar, which had exclusive streaming rights.
The viewership was the highest ever recorded during the just-concluded tournament. The thrilling contest kept the viewers hooked as the match could have gone either way looking at the performances of both the teams.
Team India won the toss and decided to bat as they posted 176 runs on the scoreboard.
Skipper Rohit Sharma, who had been in amazing form throughout the tournament, got out early after scoring 9 runs. It was Virat Kohli who rose to the occasion and contributed 76 runs out of India’s total of 176. He clinched the Player of the Match trophy for his performance in the finals.
Axar Patel and Shivam Dube also provided much-needed strength to the batting line-up. The game, however, changed thanks to the bowling trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh, and the match-winning catch by Suryakumar Yadav on the boundary line.
Commenting on the live streaming milestone, Sajith Sivanandan, Head, Disney+ Hotstar, noted: “With a staggering 5.3 crore concurrent viewers tuning in on Disney+ Hotstar for the finals, the highest peak concurrency recorded for this tournament, the support of Indian cricket fans has lifted us to new heights in live sports streaming. It has been a real privilege matching their unwavering passion and support with our innovation.”
Concurrent viewing means the number of viewers simultaneously logging on to Disney+ Hotstar to watch the match. Live peak concurrency is the highest number of live viewers watching concurrently at any point during the match.
–IANS
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