New Delhi: The ICC Women's World Cup final played between hosts England and India on July 23 at the home of cricket, Lord's was found to have been viewed by as much as by 19.53 million Indians, thereby becoming the most watched women sporting event in the nation.
Based on the data provided by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, that took into account seven television channels, of which six belonged to the Star Sports network, revealed that around 1.95 crore Indians were glued to their television sets when Mithali Raj and her pack of blues were battling against the host nation England, at Lord's.
It also showed that the amount of viewership clocked from the rural areas of the nation were more than that of the urban areas. While rural India clocked an impression of 99.6 lakh, viewership in the urban areas clocked at 95.71.
The stats revealed will surely make Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami happy. Prior to the world cup final, the skipper had mentioned that when India had reached her maiden final, back in 2005, very few people were aware of the news. Mithali, however, reckoned that this time, more people would be glued to their television owing to the immense amount of publicity and media coverage. Adding to it, it was also for the first time that the World Cup final went houseful, with all tickets sold around four days prior to the date.
Highest TV ratings in India in women's sports
19.53 million #WWC 2017 final #IndvEng
17.3 million #Rio2017 Badminton finals Sindhu vs Marin— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) August 5, 2017
However, heartbreaking it was for the Indian fans as they witnessed the Women in Blue go down by mere five runs to a scintillating bowling display form Heather Knight-side. Despite the loss, the Indian eves found themselves in a felicitation spree, with even Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting the team personally at a reception at Taj Mahal hotel, New Delhi.
Statistics also showed that the World Cup final viewership edged past the 2016 Rio Olympic Badminton final between PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin. 17.3 million is where the TV impressions had stood and until July 23, 2017, it was the most watched women sporting event in India. Unfortunately again, PV Sindhu had eventually lost the final 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 to the Spaniard.
