The ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 has set a new benchmark in Indian cricket viewership, becoming the highest-rated multi-nation cricket tournament in the country’s history.
According to an ICC media release, the event’s television ratings surpassed those of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 by an impressive 23 per cent.
The live broadcast amassed an extraordinary 137 billion minutes of watch time on Star Sports and 110 billion minutes on JioHotstar.
The surge in viewership was driven by a thrilling final between India and New Zealand in Dubai on 9 March, which recorded a peak concurrency of 122 million live viewers on television and 61 million on JioHotstar—a record-breaking figure for digital viewership in cricket.
The final also emerged as the second-highest-rated One Day International (ODI) match in television history, outside of ICC Cricket World Cup fixtures, with 230 million viewers tuning in and a staggering 53 billion minutes of watch time across television and digital platforms.
ICC Chairman Jay Shah expressed his delight at the tournament’s overwhelming response. “The Champions Trophy made an amazing return after eight years and the viewership numbers from India have been overwhelming, in particular the final between India and New Zealand,” he stated in the ICC release.
Shah further emphasised the tournament’s broad appeal, stating, “The incredible viewership numbers highlight the mass appeal that cricket has in India and how taking ICC events to audiences in different languages can significantly boost fan engagement. The success of the Champions Trophy marketing strategy is evident, creating excitement in existing and new fanbases, complemented by highly exciting cricket throughout the event.”
He also acknowledged the final’s record-breaking status, adding, “The ICC Champions Trophy viewership numbers from India released today by our great partners @StarSportsIndia and @JioHotstar are amazing, in particular for the Final between India and New Zealand which became one of the highest rated ODIs in history with 230M viewers tuning in.”
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Sanjog Gupta, CEO Sports, Jio Star, attributed the success to a multi-platform strategy.
“This accomplishment is a result of the combined strength of the widest, most deeply penetrated multi-platform destination for sports, the fan-focused story-telling approach of the JioStar 'mega-casts' and our superior technological capabilities,” he remarked.
“The interest in the tournament was fuelled by a one-of-a-kind cohort-based marketing effort which built diverse apertures for the tournament in order to recruit at scale, differentiated audience segments with distinct persuasions across devices. India’s unbeaten, title-winning campaign further fuelled the passion of the fans and drove the spike in viewership for the Final,” he added.
The high-profile league match between India and Pakistan also registered extraordinary ratings, becoming one of the most-watched ODI matches in India.
The contest amassed over 26 billion minutes of watch time on linear television, according to data released by the Broadcast Audience Research Council.
The match registered a 10.8 per cent higher television rating than the India-Pakistan encounter in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, which had recorded 19.5 billion viewing minutes.
Played before a packed stadium in Dubai on 23 February, the match drew a record 206 million viewers on linear television, as India extended their dominance over Pakistan in ICC tournaments.
Star batsman Virat Kohli led the team to a memorable six-wicket victory, reinforcing India’s supremacy in global cricket.
The record-breaking viewership figures can be attributed to JioStar’s comprehensive coverage, which ensured that audiences across India could access the action in multiple languages. The matches were telecast live on Star Sports and Sports 18 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.
On digital platforms, the tournament was streamed across an unprecedented 16 feeds, including nine languages—English, Hindi, Marathi, Haryanvi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada—as well as four multi-camera feeds, an Indian Sign Language feed, and the Max View feed on JioHotstar.
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