THE MEN’S T20 WORLD cup final smashed viewership record on streaming platform JioHotstar, with concurrent viewership touching 745 million when the last New Zealand wicket fell, per data provided by the ICC digital rights holder.
On Sunday (March 8, 2026), India won the trophy for a record third time, becoming not just the only country to retain the title, but also win it at home.
When the final New Zealand wicket fell in the 19th over, giving India a resounding 96-run victory, the concurrent viewership was 745m and reached 821m by the end of the post-match presentation.
The concurrent viewership of the final match built up gradually before hitting a crescendo.
Before the final match began, concurrent viewership was at 21m when singer Ricky Martin performed and crept up to 42m when the toss was held.
It crossed the last record of 65m peak concurrent viewers in India vs England semi-final on the JioHotstar platform.
Peak concurrency is the highest number of viewers during a live stream at a time.
Even before the first ball of India’s innings was bowled, viewership touched 65m.
The number broke the previous record for an ICC tournament final at 59m peak concurrent viewership, registered during the India vs Australia match in the 50-overs format on November 20, 2023.
The Indian team lost that match, which was also hosted in Ahmedabad.
On Sunday, as the match progressed, viewership kept rising, reaching 439m at the end of India’s innings and 443m during the innings break.
When New Zealand began chasing a massive target of 255 runs, the viewership was 499m and reached 503m by the end of the very first over of New Zealand’s innings.
The last T20 World Cup final match in 2024, which ended India’s 13-year wait to lift an ICC trophy, witnessed a peak concurrent viewership of 53m on the then OTT streaming platform Disney+Hotstar.
