ICC World Cup 2015: India-Pakistan most viewed event on Indian television since 2011

The high voltage match between India and arch-rivals Pakistan on 15 February 2015 at the Adelaide Oval, in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup, became the most watched television event in India since the final of the World Cup in 2011.

The India-Pakistan match recorded 288 million viewers, the most in the last 4 years in India. The match rated 14.8 TVR (TAM data M15+ ABC) across the STAR network and Doordarshan (DD) – with 12.9 TVR across the STAR Network and 2.9 across Doordarshan.

“Nothing is bigger than the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Indian fans have shown their unflinching faith and passionate following for Team India as they began their World Cup campaign with a bang,” said the CEO of Star India Uday Shankar.

“As the country’s leading broadcaster, our efforts have been to showcase the best of cricket, have wider coverage, offer multiple languages and take the sport deeper by reinventing the viewer experience. With a host of innovations, we are committed to make this edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup the biggest ever.”

One of the reasons for such numbers was the addition of Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan to the commentary panel for the match. The film star shared the microphone with cricket legends such as Kapil Dev and Rahul Dravid. Also, the ‘Mauka’ Ad, being a creative and funny campaign, helped create a lot of buzz about the event.

The Indian side emerged victorious in the clash with a comfortable 76-run win over an underwhelming Pakistan team, thanks to a ton from Virat Kohli, who became the first Indian batsman to score a century against Pakistan in a World Cup match. This win also helped India continue their unbeaten run against Pakistan in World Cups. India have beaten Pakistan in all their 6 World Cup meetings.