Viewership for the Cricket World Cup skyrocketed and broke new records as Virat Kohli slammed his 50th ODI ton to surpass the great Sachin Tendulkar’s record. Previously the highest viewership in Disney+Hotstar was 4.4 crores. But when Virat Kohli reached the World Record, the viewership was at a whopping 4.7 crores. As India closed in on the final spot, the viewership zoomed to a new height of 5.3 Crore concurrent viewers.
But the main highlight came towards the end of India’s innings. When Kohli departed after playing a sublime innings, the viewership was clocked at 4.8. After that, Shreyas Iyer switched gears and reached a sensational ton as the viewership continued to rise to 4.9 crores.
“It’s not just Team India breaking records with their 10th straight win at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Indian fans are also tuning into Disney+ Hotstar in unprecedented numbers. Their incredible passion has led us to shatter the peak concurrency record four times during this tournament, setting new benchmarks in live sports streaming. The 5.3 cr concurrent viewers for India’s semifinal against New Zealand exceeds the combined population of Australia and New Zealand by more than 1.5 times! With the final just around the corner, we look forward to bringing the nation together to witness the making of sporting history,” Sajith Sivanandan – Head, Disney+ Hotstar India said.
Finally, when KL Rahul finished the innings for India sublimely, the total live viewership count was clocked at 5.1 crores, thereby making it the most viewed match of the ongoing Cricket World Cup.
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“A big, big congratulations to Virat, he made it look easy, he’s gone to 50 hundreds in ODI format. Incredible, super, we are all super proud of him. I still remember the first day when he got into the Indian dressing room. The other players played prank on him and made him touch my feet saying that this is tradition, you have to touch his feet to take his blessings, that’s when you are going to have a good career. I was laughing away. Today to see the same player grow so beautifully and achieve so many laurels for our country, I am so proud,” said Sachin Tendulkar.
Virat Kohli surpasses Sachin Tendulkar to script another ODI World Cup record
“All this feels like a dream, too good to be true. Feels surreal for me. Again a big game today, I had to play the role I have played throughout the tournament so that the guys around me can go and express themselves. Just glad everything came together so nicely and we put up a great total on the board as well,” said Kohli after his knock.
“As I said stuff of dreams. Anushka was sitting right there, Sachin paaji was here too. Difficult to explain this. If I could paint a perfect picture I would want this to be the picture. My life partner, the person I love the most is sitting there, my hero is sitting there and I was able to get the 50th (ODI hundred) in front of all of them and all these stands in Wankhede as well, such a history venue so it was amazing,” Kohli concluded.
