The in-stadia figures exceeded the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup’s opening three-day attendance of 34,680 last year, which was held in India and Sri Lanka. This was pushed significantly by a massive crowd of 18,814 for the India vs Pakistan clash at Edgbaston, making it the highest-attended group-stage fixture in the tournament’s history. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 drew strong crowds on ground and on the tournament’s official digital spaces, the ICC revealed in a statement on Tuesday.

A total of 44,844 fans attended games across the first three days of the tournament, a new record for the weekend of an ICC Women’s event.

The in-stadia figures exceeded the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup’s opening three-day attendance of 34,680 last year, which was held in India and Sri Lanka.

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This was pushed significantly by a massive crowd of 18,814 for the India vs Pakistan clash at Edgbaston, making it the highest-attended group-stage fixture in the tournament’s history, going past the 15,935 fans who watched the same nations tussle in the 2024 edition in Dubai.

In India, JioHotstar has recorded a cumulative live tournament reach of 215 million and 1.3 billion minutes of live watch time so far, with India’s win over Pakistan reaching 134 million viewers and generating 1.1 billion minutes of watch time alone. This is now the highest digital reach for any league-stage match across all formats in women’s cricket.

In the UK, Sky Sports’ broadcast of the opening game, which was attended by over 14,000 people at Edgbaston, drew a peak viewership of 510,000 and an average audience of 393,000. This is the broadcaster’s highest-ever average audience for a single game at an ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

The ICC’s digital platforms have also seen tremendous gains, with more than 753 million video views across ICC content on social media, a near 150 per cent increase on the same period of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup.

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The ICC has championed a Creator Club programme, where it has roped in influencers from different geographic territories and target markets to popularise the game there. This programme has generated an additional 617 million views and 30 million+ engagements.

ICC made warm-up matches available on its app and ICC TV portal. These two and its YouTube channel continue to serve non-traditional markets that do not have broadcast partners even after the start of the tournament. The ICC statement says that there has been a 75 per cent jump in both unique users and watch time. The ICC’s tie up with YouTube ahead of the tournament for more dedicated content showcasing has yielded over 150,000 hours of watch time on ICC’s YouTube channel.

“This is only the beginning. Our ambition for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 has always been to raise the bar for the women’s game, create a bigger stage for the world’s best players and deliver an event that reaches new fans, inspires future generations and leaves a lasting legacy for cricket in England and Wales and around the world,” ICC Chief Executive Sanjog Gupta said.

Published on Jun 16, 2026