India vs Pakistan Asia Cup match breaks viewership records

The Asia Cup 2022 match between India and Pakistan on August 28 has broken viewership records and has become the most watched non-World Cup T20I ever, according to host broadcaster Star Sports.

In a press release on Thursday (September 8), the broadcaster, citing BARC data, said 176 million viewers tuned in to watch the first six games of Asia Cup 2022.

“The high-octane blockbuster between India and Pakistan on August 28th, 2022, recorded a cumulative reach of 133 million and registered 13.6 billion minutes, registering a growth of almost 30% compared to the India-Pakistan encounter in Asia Cup 2016,” it said.

Also read: 5 reasons why seven-time champion India failed to qualify for Asia Cup final

India won the league game against Pakistan on Sunday by five wickets and two balls to spare. The Rohit Sharma-led side successfully chased down 148 in Dubai.

Speaking about the record viewership for the India-Pakistan match in the opening week, Sanjog Gupta, Head – Sports, Disney Star said, “The record-breaking viewership for Asia Cup 2022 demonstrates cricket’s unparalleled power to aggregate fans across platforms, enhanced by Disney Star’s focus on audience expansion.”

“We were focused on elevating the stature of Asia Cup as a marquee tournament and expanding the appeal of India vs Pakistan as the unmissable ‘Greatest Rivalry’. Our high decibel marketing campaign combined with focus on lead-up programming and regional coverage has resulted in the India vs Pakistan league match becoming the highest-rated T20I ever (outside of World Cup matches). This is an ideal start to the festival of cricket which entails bilateral series vs Australia & South Africa and is followed by the ICC T20 World Cup,” he added.

Also read: Asia Cup: Loss to Sri Lanka a wake-up call for India ahead of T20 World Cup

In the ongoing Asia Cup, India has been eliminated from the competition after two successive losses to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super Four stage. India, the seven-time Asia Cup champion, will end the campaign today (September 8) with a match against Afghanistan.

Asia Cup 2022 culminates on Sunday (September 11) with Pakistan facing Sri Lanka in Dubai.

Team India’s next series will be at home as it hosts ICC T20 World Cup champion Australia in a three-T20I series that gets underway on September 20.