The International Cricket Council on Friday announced that the next edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup in 2029 will feature 10 teams, 2 more from the 8 teams that took part in the 2025 edition of the tournament which was won by India.
“The ICC board, keen to build on the success of the event, agreed to expand the next edition of the tournament to 10 teams (from eight teams in 2025),” the ICC said in a statement.
“The ICC re-affirmed its commitment to the growth of Women’s Cricket and heralded the success of ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 in India as testament to its long-standing faith in the Women’s game. Nearly 300,000 fans watched the event in stadia breaking the record for tournament attendance for any women’s Cricket event. The tournament also witnessed viewership growth and new records being set for on-screen audiences across the world with nearly 500 million viewers in India,” it added.
Viewership records
Earlier in the day, the official broadcaster JioHotstar said that the World Cup had achieved overall reach of 446 million on its digital platform over the course of the tournament. JioHotstar said in a release that the Women’s World Cup final, which India won by defeating South Africa, was watched by 185 million users on its platform.
The viewership in the final exceeded the daily average reach of the Indian Premier League, while it also equalled the viewership recorded during last year’s men’s T20 World Cup final between India and South Africa. The broadcaster stated in a release that the 446-million viewership was “the highest ever for women’s cricket and greater than the combined total of the last three Women’s World Cups, marking an extraordinary milestone in the evolution of women’s cricket viewership in India.” “The Women in Blue’s final act drew a peak concurrency of 21 million viewers as Harmanpreet Kaur’s team became the first Asian team to lift the Women’s World Cup,” it said.
“In another record, 92 million tuned in to watch the historic clash on Connected TV (CTV), equalling the CTV viewership of T20 World Cup 2024 final and the World Cup 2023 final. The surge reflects a significant shift in viewing habits and highlights the deepening adoption of digital, large-screen sports consumption across India,” JioHotstar added.
(With agency inputs)
