The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 kicked off in style, delivering record viewership across digital and television platforms, underscoring the growing popularity of women’s cricket. Quite a few matches in the first half of the tournament have set new benchmarks, reflecting strong fan engagement and the impact of strategic collaboration between the ICC, BCCI, which is the host board, and broadcasters JioStar.
According to data jointly released by the ICC and JioHotstar, the first 13 matches of the tournament have already reached over 60 million viewers, a five-fold increase over the 2022 edition. The total viewing time has soared to 7 billion minutes, a 12-fold increase over the previous tournament.
India vs Pakistan Clash on 5th October in Colombo proved to be the topper, with a reach of 28.4 million viewers and a digital-record 1.87 billion minutes, making it the most-watched women’s international cricket match of all time.
India beat Pakistan after a sensational cameo from wicketkeeper Rich Ghosh and an all-round bowling display.
Meantime, India vs Australia match on 12th October in Visakhapatnam recorded 4.8 million concurrent viewers on JioHotstar, another milestone for women’s cricket.
Although India lost a hard-fought encounter against Australia, several tuned in for this high-scoring thriller. Smriti Mandhana’s quick-fire eighty came in vain as Australia captain Alyssa Healy’s hundred took the world champions home.
TV NUMBERS STILL
Television viewership also increased. The India vs Pakistan match became the highest rated league stage match in the history of ICC Women’s ODI World Cup. The first 11 matches, including India’s matches against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa, generated a combined reach of 72 million, a 166% increase over the previous edition, with minutes watched up 327% to 6.3 billion, reflecting the growing emotional investment of fans.
Siddharth Sharma, Head of Viewership and Monetization Initiatives – Sports, JioStar said, “The incredible viewership of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup India 2025 is a true testament to the growing interest in women’s sports in India. Fans are embracing women’s sports like never before and on this platform, where the next movement is located, we are proud to that this JioStar platform is in this era. sports entertainment.”
The business end of the tournament is expected to attract more attention. After facing two back-to-back defeats, India will look to get their campaign back on track when they take on the 2017 champions England in Indore on Sunday, October 19.
The league phase of the tournament will end on October 26. The semi-finals are played on 29 and 30 October with the final set on 2 November.
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Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
October 16, 2025
