The International Cricket Council (ICC) is fully in favour of promoting the game on Facebook, after seeing the results of viewership after the Coronavirus pandemic shook the world.
According to the ICC, the results, from Facebook-owned CrowdTangle; an analytics tool, are another clear indication of the power of cricket to connect and engage with fans around the world through compelling content.
At a time when Covid-19 has severely impacted live sports, the ICC says its channels have gone from strength to strength, with its Facebook page receiving more than double the engagement of other global sporting federations.
Cricket saw 1.65 billion video views in the first half of 2020, ensuring the ICC channel topped the rankings in terms of video consumption among leading sporting bodies on Facebook
Across the April-June lockdown period, overall interactions on the ICC page were more than two and a half times higher than other leading leagues and sports bodies across the world
“The combination of one of the world’s most-watched sports with one of the world’s largest platforms is proving exciting for the growth of cricket consumption,” said ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney. “These numbers are testimony to the fact that cricket truly has the power to connect and engage more deeply with diverse audiences around the world. We will continue to enhance these engagements and serve the global cricket fan with exciting content at the back of this partnership.”
Over the previous 12 month period, the ICC Facebook channel was the most engaged page in its category including the single most engaged day in its history with 4.4 million interactions as Bangladesh triumphed over India in the final of the Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2020
In February 2020, the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa played out 747 million video views across ICC digital media assets, representing 700 per cent growth from the 2018 edition. In March, during the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, the ICC’s digital channels received a total of 1.1 billion video views, which was a 1,900 per cent increase on the 2018 edition, making it the most-watched ICC women’s event to date.
It was also the second most successful ICC event ever after the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 with 4.6 billion views across channels. The final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 also, recorded the most single-day views on the ICC Facebook page (64.9 million) since records began.
As the sporting landscape changed during the global pandemic, the ICC acted to engage fans with a host of nostalgic, snackable content. As a result, daily video consumption on Facebook jumped from 3 million minutes viewed to 15 million minutes per day (outside of the ICC live events), according to Advanced Television Research Monitor.
