England vs Pakistan T20 series become the first live international cricket broadcast on BBC in the last 21 years. And as expected it has created unprecedented viewership records.
Like Eoin Morgan’s team, BBC also hit the ball out of the park as the series draws peak viewership of 2.7million.
England’s four-wicket win over Pakistan in the second T20 international at Old Trafford was the first game the BBC have shown since the 1999 World Cup. And believe it or not, it garnered 17.3 per cent share of Sunday afternoon’s TV audience, with an average viewership of 1.7m.
England vs Pakistan Series Live Broadcast : BBC viewership 5 times more than Sky Sports
In contrast, Sky Sports’ coverage of the same fixture – when England captain Eoin Morgan’s 33-ball 66 inspired the hosts to victory – attracted a peak of 490,000 and an average of 331,000.
Isa Guha fronted the coverage, with pundits including Jimmy Anderson, Michael Vaughan and Phil Tufnell.
This is the first series broadcast on free to air platform. England cricket in last two decades have only been available on PayTV. It seems England & Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) attempt to widen the cricket reach by bringing in free to air platform in the mix has paid off.
ECB had changed his media rights strategy by bringing in both PayTV (SkySports) & Free to air platform (BBC) on board for the new cycle of rights that has begin from 2020.
BBC according to the new deal has rights to showcase England men’s T20 internationals as well as one women’s game.
The BBC according to a report by Daily Mail, will next live broadcast England men’s second T20 against Australia at the Ageas Bowl on Sunday, and then the women’s fixture with West Indies at Derby on September 26.
The last time an England men’s international was shown live on free-to-air TV was last year’s World Cup final, when Channel 4 attracted a peak audience of 4.8m for the thrilling win over New Zealand.
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