India’s emphatic victory over New Zealand in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final on Sunday also created history off the field, as the match logged record-breaking viewership on streaming platform JioHotstar, with peak concurrent viewers touching 82.1 crore.
The high-stakes summit clash witnessed a massive surge in online audiences as India clinched the title for a record third time, becoming the only country to win the tournament at home.
The match recorded 74.5 crore concurrent viewers at the moment the final New Zealand wicket fell in the 19th over, sealing India’s 96-run victory. The number rose further to 82.1 crore by the end of the post-match presentation ceremony.
Viewership steadily climbed throughout the evening before peaking during the closing moments of the game.
Before the start of play, concurrent viewership stood at 2.1 crore during singer Ricky Martin’s performance and increased to 4.2 crore during the toss.
The figures soon surpassed the previous record of 6.5 crore peak concurrent viewers recorded during the India vs England semi-final on the JioHotstar platform.
Peak concurrency refers to the highest number of viewers watching a live stream at a particular moment.
Even before the first ball of India’s innings was bowled, viewership had already reached 6.5 crore.
The numbers also eclipsed the previous record for an ICC tournament final — 5.9 crore peak concurrent viewers — registered during the India vs Australia ODI World Cup final on November 20, 2023.
India had lost that match, which was also held in Ahmedabad.
As Sunday’s final progressed, viewership continued to surge. By the end of India’s innings, concurrent viewers had climbed to 43.9 crore and rose slightly to 44.3 crore during the innings break.
When New Zealand began chasing the daunting 255-run target, viewership stood at 49.9 crore and increased to 50.3 crore by the end of the first over of the chase.
For comparison, the previous T20 World Cup final in 2024 — which ended India’s 13-year wait for an ICC trophy — recorded a peak concurrent viewership of 5.3 crore on the then OTT platform Disney+Hotstar.