The T20 World Cup final match, which ended India’s 13-year wait to lift an ICC trophy, witnessed a peak viewership of 5.3 crore (53 million) on the OTT streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar on Saturday, but fell short of the record audience posted in the last year’s ODI final match in November.

According to a PTI report from New Delhi yesterday, the peak viewership in the final match between India and Australia in the 50-overs format on November 20, 2023 was 5.9 crore (59 million), despite the host nation ending on the losing side.

This 5.9 crore still holds the record for peak concurrency for live streaming of any cricket match, according to industry experts. The peak concurrency in the knockout match played between India and Australia in the T20 Cricket World Cup on June 24 was 3.9 crore.

Disney Star has exclusive broadcast and media rights for both linear and digital platforms.

Saturday’s final match was also telecast live by Disney Star on the Star Sports network but viewership numbers will be released only a week later by television audience measurement body Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India.

Karan Taurani SVP of Elara Capital said the final match played on Saturday may not have achieved that number but the interesting fact is that 4 to 4.5 crore viewers were watching the match constantly because of the nail-biting finish.

There was a longer time frame of having 4 to 4.5 crore viewers, which was not there in the India-Australia final match played last year, he added. Moreover, even in the post-match ceremony, the viewership number sustained between a range of 2.5 to 3 crore viewers, which was interesting.