By afaqs! news bureau
Media

ICC World Cup 2015: Over 100 mn Indian viewers tuned in on the opening day

On social media, the opening day (February 14, Saturday) witnessed 1, 31,000 conversations from 80,000 unique authors, delivering 1 billion impressions (in India) for the two matches.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, launched on February 14, opened on a high with 101 million Indian viewers (TAM data CS4+ extrapolated to the universe using a standard conversion factor; data provided by Star Sports) tuning in on the first day of the tournament.

ICC World Cup 2015: Over 100 mn Indian viewers tuned in on the opening day
The inaugural day saw the New-Zealand vs South-Africa and England vs Australia matches in the opening stages for the cup.
ICC World Cup 2015: Over 100 mn Indian viewers tuned in on the opening day
According to Star Sports, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 broadcast, bolstered by new look graphics and multi-lingual feed, cut across demographic boundaries and captured the imagination of a diverse fan-base. 67 per cent of the viewership for the opening day's game, Australia vs England, came from Hindi + vernacular feeds, with English fetching 33 per cent. This reflects a shift as compared to the prior edition of the World Cup where English dominated with a 55 per cent share.

The tournament was aired in six languages on Star Sports Network channels. The network had also launched a Hindi HD channel for sports on which the matches were aired.

The World Cup buzz renewed the Australia - England rivalry as viewers lined up in big numbers to watch the co-hosts take on their arch rivals, irrespective of the different time zones. The 9 AM game on Saturday delivered 2.5X of the ratings of the recently concluded tri-series, and over ten times the viewership of any other Australia-England game, including day and night matches, in the last one year, the network shared.

The World Cup buzz also dominated social trends online, with fans extremely vocal in their enthusiasm. The opening day witnessed 1, 31,000 conversations from 80,000 unique authors, delivering 1 billion impressions (in India) for the two matches.

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