ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP 2026 continues to raise global benchmarks in sports broadcasting and digital streaming, with the semi-final between India national cricket team and England national cricket team on 5 March delivering a milestone in online viewership.
India’s leading streaming platform JioHotstar recorded a peak concurrency of 65.2 million viewers during the match. The encounter also generated 619 million views on the platform.
The high-scoring contest, which produced 499 runs across both innings, gripped fans in India and around the world. The peak concurrency surpassed the previous global benchmark of 65 million, achieved by an international streaming platform in November 2024 through combined viewership across several markets.
In contrast, JioHotstar’s record-breaking numbers were driven entirely by audiences from a single market. The achievement highlights the immense pull of major ICC tournaments, particularly when the Indian team is involved.
Across both television and digital platforms, the semi-final reached more than 320 million viewers, while total watch time across screens exceeded 23 billion minutes.
The 619 million views registered during the match also surpassed the 533 million views recorded during the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
ICC chairman Jay Shah said, “It is incredibly heartening to see the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup bringing together hundreds of millions of Cricket fans in India. The remarkable numbers recorded during the India vs England semi-final demonstrate not only the passion of cricket fans but also the tremendous progress being made in making the game more accessible and engaging for audiences everywhere. This World Cup will be remembered as much for its on- field play as it will be for the way millions of fans came together to celebrate the sport.”
JioStar vice-chairman Uday Shankar shared, “This is testimony to JioStar’s technological and creative excellence and ICC’s commitment to making the game of cricket even bigger. One in every three Indians tuned in to watch the second semi-final game on Thursday and when hundreds of millions of people tune in to watch the game, it takes the best of technology to deliver. This is what the future of entertainment is going to look like.”
