India v/s Pakistan clash in ICC World Cup Semi Finals – Are you game for this most-awaited sporting event on the Earth? In fact, some have already dubbed this match as even bigger than the tournament’s Grand Finale.
I am sure you’ve planned your day well in advance. Even if you’re at work in office, you might still manage to stay in touch with latest score updates – be it through radio or internet sites. This ICC mega-event has certainly hooked increasing number of eyeballs back to traditional ODI games.
Well, records say it all – and it is not just limited to high profile quarter and semi-final matches, but even league matches that were played over last many days. Here is some number crunching. According to TAM data, 161.9 million people have watched the first 40 matches of the Cup, as compared to 143.7 million viewers that tuned in to watch IPL-3 in 2010.
Thus, the school of thought amongst the cricketing enthusiasts who felt that the fever of ODI game is slowly dying down as against the increasing buzz related to the shortened T20 games is certainly up for intense debate.
Moreover, even on comparing the cumulative viewership numbers of this World Cup edition with that of the previous one; the current statistical figures are much resounding, looking at the lowly 109.5 million viewers that watched the 2007 World Cup edition. Almost 55 million views have accessed live streaming of World Cup matches on the broadcaster’s official website.
When cricket is being discussed in India, various theories have been thrown out of the window time and again. The action-packed mania has never been limited to the advertising revenue-bonanza for the television channels alone. The World Cup matches also seem to have driven bumper traffic to internet sites as well.
A Comscore update says that internet sites catering to live cricketing scores and updates have also seen a dramatic surge in the number of follower visitation. The traffic volume for the month during the week ended March 13 saw highest traffic levels with 16.4% of India’s online population visiting ESPNCricinfo.com and 13.4% of webs users visiting Yahoo Cricket.
Even Google has witnessed a multi-fold surge in use of its search engine. If that is not enough, let me assure you – web users have left no stone unfurled when it comes to seeking details about ticketing enquiries about tournament matches.
On trakin, I had posted an article on ICC World Cup’s ticket sale way back in mid-2010.
That particular article has received more than 500 comments on the site; with each of them enquiring about availability and pricing of tournament tickets from the other guys. Check that article here.
Just check the post – while most of them have divulged their mobile number details to get hold of those valuable tickets, others are checking about ticket availability from so-called readers who hold ‘extra’ tickets.
So, any guesses – who will win the coveted tournament title?
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Though the viewership has gone up for CWC compared to IPL matches, I feel that it does not prove anything as to the ODI vs 20-20 theory. Followers are there for every segment of cricket, be it Ranji trophy, Tests, ODIs or 20-20s. The proof – the next IPL 4th season viewership will exceed CWC.
The increase in viewership proves only one thing. As far as Cricket is concerned, people will watch any game, if proper hype is created. Our media has the ability to exceed any past record by its sheer muscle.
Certainly next IPL4 will have more viewers than 2011 CWC. The next CWC will have more viewers than IPL4, so on so forth.