Cricket has more than 1 billion fans among people aged 16–69 in the ICC’s 2018 global market research, with an average fan age of 34. The sport’s audience spans international formats, domestic competitions, digital platforms, live grounds, and both men’s and women’s cricket. Recent figures from the ICC and ECB show especially strong reach for major tournaments and growing participation around new competitions.
Contents
- Global cricket fan profile
- Format and women’s cricket interest
- Digital and broadcast audiences
- The Hundred’s first-season audience
- Cricket audiences in England and Wales
- The Hundred’s five-year reach
- Women’s cricket participation and future growth
Global cricket fan profile
The ICC’s 2018 global market research is one of the broadest snapshots in the supplied figures. It covered more than 19,000 interviews worldwide, including over 6,600 in-depth interviews with cricket fans aged 16–69. Within that research:
- Cricket had over 1 billion fans in the surveyed 16–69 age category globally.
- The average cricket fan age was 34.
- 61% of cricket fans were male.
- 39% were female.
- More than 300 million people were cricket participants.
- 95% of fans had interest or very high interest in ICC global events.
- Two-thirds of cricket fans were interested in all three international formats.
The gender split describes the respondents and definitions used in the 2018 ICC research. It should not be treated as a current global census, but it gives useful context for the scale and composition of the audience measured at that time. The participation figure also refers to that study’s research context rather than a universal registration count.
These numbers suggest that cricket fandom is not limited to occasional major-event viewing. A large audience reported interest across formats, while the participant figure shows a substantial connection between watching and playing. The ICC research also measured interest rather than attendance or verified commercial activity, so the metrics answer different questions.
Format and women’s cricket interest
The same ICC 2018 research recorded strong interest across the international game. Globally, 92% of fans were interested in T20I cricket and 88% were interested in ODI cricket. Close to 70% were interested in Test cricket. Interest varied by geography and format:
- Fans in England and Wales showed 86% interest in Test cricket.
- South Africa led interest in ODI cricket at 91%.
- Pakistan led interest in T20I cricket at 98%.
Women’s cricket also had substantial reported interest in the ICC study. Overall, 68% of cricket fans were interested in women’s cricket, while 65% were interested in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. In addition, 70% wanted more live coverage of women’s cricket.
The format figures are interest measures from the 2018 research, not shares of total viewing time. They are therefore best read as indicators of breadth: a fan could be interested in more than one format, and the research found that two-thirds were interested in all three international formats. The audience demand for women’s live coverage likewise indicates stated preference, not a forecast of a particular broadcast audience.
The research also recorded support for cricket’s Olympic ambitions. Some 87% of fans wanted Twenty20 cricket in the Olympic Games. This figure reflects the views captured in the ICC’s 2018 study and the wording of that research, rather than a later Olympic programme decision.
Digital and broadcast audiences
Cricket’s digital footprint appears in both earlier ICC platform figures and the much larger tournament totals reported for the 2023 men’s Cricket World Cup. An ICC digital innovation release from 2017 said that the Champions Trophy mobile-responsive website had more than 2 million unique visitors since launch. The same release reported close to 10 million overall downloads for the ICC app.
The ICC’s 2023 broadcast record release reported the following for the first 18 matches of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023:
| Measure | Reported result | Comparison or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Linear-TV viewing minutes | 123.8 billion | First 18 matches |
| Linear-TV viewers | 364.2 million | First 18 matches |
| Video views on ICC platforms | 16.9 billion | Tournament coverage |
| ICC social-channel engagements | 1.23 billion | Tournament coverage |
| Disney+ Hotstar peak concurrency | 43 million | India vs New Zealand |
| Live tournament viewers on Disney+ Hotstar | 295 million | Mobile-accessible coverage |
The 123.8 billion linear-TV viewing minutes were 43% higher than for the comparable 2019 edition. ICC platform video views were up 158% versus the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup, while social-channel engagements were up 142% against that event. These are different measurement units and comparison periods, so they should not be added together.
The 2023 World Cup was shown on 22 channels in India and covered across nine languages in India. In-venue attendances were up by 190,000 compared with 2019. Together, the figures show a tournament reaching audiences through linear television, mobile streaming, social platforms, and stadium attendance, with the reported totals covering different parts of the event experience.
The Hundred’s first-season audience
The ECB’s 2021 release on The Hundred gives a detailed view of a domestic competition’s first-season reach. The Hundred drew 16.1 million TV viewers in 2021, and 57% of those viewers had not watched any other live ECB cricket that year. A total of 510,000 tickets were sold and issued, while 55% of ticket buyers had not previously bought a cricket ticket in the country.
The competition’s finals-day peaks were 1.4 million viewers for the women’s match and 2.4 million for the men’s match. Women’s games attracted 267,000 attendees during the first season. Among people aware of The Hundred, 66% thought it was equally for men and women.
Audience composition and related activity added further context:
- 19% of tickets sold were for children.
- 59% of ticket buyers were under 45.
- 21% of ticket buyers were female.
- The Hundred app had 264,000 downloads in 2021.
- More than 28,000 merchandise items were sold.
- 7,000 team-kit and training-wear items were sold.
- The competition produced 429 sixes.
- More than 100,000 children took part in ECB programmes linked to The Hundred.
- More than 1,600 clubs received ECB funding to stay open during the summer holidays.
- Junior team fixtures increased by 230% after July 2021.
The ECB projected around £50 million in The Hundred revenue and expected a £10 million surplus to reinvest in cricket. Those are financial projections from the 2021 release, not reported final results. The ticket, viewing, merchandise, participation, and fixture figures are separate measures and cover different groups or outcomes.
Cricket audiences in England and Wales
The ECB’s Impact of Cricket 2023 reported a unique TV audience of 21.9 million for cricket and 323 million total viewing hours. Women made up 28% of ECB cricket TV viewers, while 13% of viewers were aged 16–34, the highest share recorded since 2013.
Women’s cricket viewing also rose in the ECB’s reported comparisons. Women’s Test viewing increased 167% to 168,000 viewers, and women’s ODI viewing increased 49% to 166,000 viewers. ECB women’s cricket attracted 7.4 million viewers in 2023. These percentage changes and audience totals describe the measures and comparison basis reported by the ECB; they are not interchangeable with the global ICC interest percentages.
Live cricket produced a separate set of indicators in England and Wales. The ECB reported that 13 million people described themselves as passionate cricket fans in 2023, and 3.1 million tickets were sold and issued for live cricket. Metro Bank Women’s Ashes attendance was 4.5 times higher than in 2019.
The Hundred’s 2023 ticket-buyer profile was 30% women, 23% juniors, and 41% families. These percentages describe ticket buyers or buyer groups as reported by the ECB, not the entire television audience. They nevertheless show how live cricket can attract family and younger audiences alongside established fans.
The ECB Inspiring Generations 2025–2028 strategy reporting recorded a 44% increase in ticket buyers across its 2020–2024 strategy reporting. England Cricket social-media following grew from 16.1 million in 2019 to 26.5 million in 2023. The ECB’s first-party database grew from 1.4 million records in 2020 to over 3.11 million in 2024. The strategy aims to grow its marketable UK digital audience from 0.8 million to 2 million and continue toward 4 million ticket sales and 3.5 million attendees by 2028. Those last figures are aims, not achieved totals.
The Hundred’s five-year reach
The Hundred’s 2025 attendance release reported more than 2.5 million total attendance across its first five years. Of that total, 1.5 million people had attended the women’s competition since launch, and 203,000 people bought tickets to their first-ever cricket game through The Hundred.
The 2025 season sold and issued 580,000 tickets. Its audience was reported as 23% junior tickets, 41% families, and 30% female buyers. The 2025 women’s competition attendance reached 349,401, while 530,000 junior tickets had been purchased across the first five years. More than 210,000 people engaged with The Hundred and its eight teams through community initiatives.
Digital and broadcast indicators were also reported for 2025. Sky Sports’ average audience for the group stages was up 38% on 2024. BBC Sport recorded 2.2 million online viewing requests for The Hundred in 2025, compared with 1.6 million in 2024. Across all platforms since launch, The Hundred had generated over 1 billion video views.
The five-year figures combine cumulative totals, one-season totals, audience composition, and platform activity. For example, 2.5 million is cumulative attendance across five years, whereas 580,000 tickets refers to 2025. The 1 billion video views are also a cumulative digital metric and should not be interpreted as unique viewers.
Women’s cricket participation and future growth
The ICC South Africa women’s tournaments legacy release reported several survey results after two women’s events. South Africa invested R15 million over three years in women’s cricket after the ICC events. In the associated responses, 83% saw a surge in girls’ interest in cricket as a career, and more than 60% saw greater social acceptance of women’s cricket at grassroots level.
Other reported responses covered participation, education, and pathways:
- 65% saw increased soft-ball participation.
- 69% saw increased hard-ball participation.
- 49% saw more schools and clubs offering girls’ cricket.
- 50% saw an increase in non-playing careers related to women’s cricket.
- 62% saw more training workshops and programmes for female coaches.
- 67% saw improved quality of female coaches.
- 55% felt there were more opportunities for female cricket officials.
These are respondents’ reported perceptions in the South Africa legacy research. They do not establish that each outcome was measured through registrations or independent administrative records, and the supplied research is identified as legacy research rather than independently verified here.
The ICC’s 100% Cricket strategy targets 250 million incremental fans for women’s cricket by 2032. This is a strategic target and forecast, not a current fan count. It sits alongside the earlier ICC finding that 68% of surveyed cricket fans were interested in women’s cricket and 70% wanted more live coverage. The comparison is useful for understanding ambition and existing interest, but the target should not be presented as an achieved result.