India-NZ WTC Final is the most-viewed Test match since 2018: BARC

The Test series recorded a cumulative reach of 103 million viewers.

The Word Test Championship (WTC) Finals, which took place from June 18-22 where India lost to New Zealand, caught the attention of many Indian cricket fans.

The final has become the most-viewed Test match since 2018, according to data shared by Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC), a television audience measurement service.

According to BARC, the match was viewed by 99 million people on TV.

The WTC Finals also registered 7.4 million average minute audience (AMA).

BARC defines AMA as the number of individuals of a target audience who view an event, averaged across minutes.

The matches were aired on Star Sports which was the official broadcaster of WTC Finals along with DD Sports.

The broadcaster was expecting a strong response from both viewers and advertisers.

"After a long wait of 144 years, a world champion for Tests will be crowned and this makes the WTC Final a marquee property. We are expecting the WTC Finals to be the most-watched game, keeping in mind the weekend and also a prime time slot – the attention and pent-up demand are something advertisers are capitalising on," Anil Jayaraj, Executive Vice President, Star Sports, had said in an earlier interview with Moneycontrol.

Experts had opined that an Indian victory would boost viewership. While India have lost the WTC Finals, it looks like there is no impact on the TV viewership.

Jayaraj had drawn parallels with the India-England Test series which took place in India between February and March this year.

He had said that team India has been drawing attention towards Test cricket with their superlative performance. "First with their win in Australia and then their victory against England at home. Their performance during the India-England series resulted in receiving the highest Test match viewership in the last four years."

The Test series recorded a cumulative reach of 103 million viewers, with the opening match of the series having clocked a reach of 26 million viewers.

'Reach' refers to the total number of individuals who viewed the event for at least one minute.

Jayaraj had also pointed out that test cricket has started gaining more attention due to top-notch performances and interesting games witnessed in the recent past.