This year's women's T20 World Cup proved a hit with the public, with the International Cricket Council registering a record 1.1 billion digital views for the tournament.
That represents a rise of more than 20 times in comparison to the 2018 edition and goes down as the ICC's second most watched competition ever behind last year's men's World Cup.
Hosts Australia won the trophy on home soil at the MCG, with a live crowd exceeding 86,000 rendering it one of the biggest occasions in the history of women's sport.
But the true global reach has been revealed by the newly published figures. Fans in India, whose side finished as runners-up, recorded 5.4billion minutes of viewing time, including 1.78billion during the final itself. Television ratings also reached new highs in both countries
It's official! The ICC Women's #T20WorldCup 2020 is one of the most watched women's sporting events in history. Details 👇https://t.co/jVCClwm08T — ICC (@ICC) April 2, 2020
"These quite outstanding broadcast and digital numbers demonstrate the power of women's cricket to aggregate a huge global audience and engage fans," said ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney.
"This undoubtedly consolidates our position as one of the leading women's sports in the world and we want to build on the momentum from this event and create a long-term sustainable foundation for the game.
"It reinforces our belief that there is a significant opportunity around the women's game and collectively we must promote it further so more fans can watch it, more kids are inspired by it and sponsors and broadcasters want to be a part of it."
