Jay Shah, chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), on Wednesday announced that the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2026 has shattered all previous broadcast records, with viewership in India alone crossing the 500 million mark — the highest ever in the tournament’s history.
The event, jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka, was envisioned as the most global and accessible edition of the T20 World Cup. According to Shah, the surge in numbers has been driven by high-stakes contests and a significant rise in digital consumption.
The journey of the @ICC #T20WorldCup 2026 began with the ambition to make it the most #global & #accessible Cricket event ever. I am humbled that viewership for the event in India has crossed 500 million, the highest ever for any T20 World Cup in history. It was also heartening…
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) March 4, 2026
Sharing the milestone on the social media platform X, Shah wrote that the tournament began with the ambition of becoming the most global and accessible cricket event ever, adding that he was “humbled” by the overwhelming response from Indian viewers.
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He also highlighted the strong digital performance, revealing that concurrent viewership on JioHotstar peaked at 60.5 million during the tournament.
“With knockout matches starting tonight, we hope the immeasurable love our events receive from Indian fans helps break even more records,” Shah stated.
Notably, the tournament has achieved these figures even before the semifinals and final are played, already surpassing the viewership recorded during the 2024 edition held in the Americas.
The latest milestone follows the success of the 2025 Champions Trophy, which had previously set new benchmarks with 250 billion minutes of watch-time and a peak television audience of 122 million.
The T20 World Cup began on February 7 and will conclude with the final on March 8.
