The Cricket Australia (CA) governing body has hailed record-breaking attendance figures for the sport domestically across the 2022-23 season.
A total of 2,400,755 fans through the turnstiles across CA's portfolio of action, the highest figure for top-level cricket in Australia for any season on record, beating the former high-water-mark of 2,349,326 who came to games during the 2017-18 season.
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The number includes attendances at men’s and women’s national team home series, both the men’s and women’s Big Bash League (BBL) Twenty20 competition, and the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup – which took place in Australia in October and November.
The figure is unsurprising given the addition of attendance figures from the World Cup, in which 45 games took place, and also the fact that the previous two Australian cricket seasons have been heavily disrupted in terms of both scheduling and fan attendance by the Covid-19 pandemic.
CA has also claimed that a total cumulate audience – across broadcast and streaming – of 44.45 million watched high-profile cricket across 2022-23.
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Specifically, the BBL “delivered an 11% increase in viewership across all platforms,” with the final between the Perth Scorchers and Brisbane Heat watched by an average audience up more than 30% from last year’s final.
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By GlobalDataFor men’s test match action, meanwhile, 24 sessions (each day is split into three), were watched by an average of over 1 million nationally.
In addition, across social media, CA’s channels “attracted 485.33 million video views and 93.31 million engagements across the domestic season.”
Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, has said: “This record-breaking 2022-23 season reflects the support for the T20 World Cup, the performances of the Australian women’s and men’s teams, and the popularity of the Big Bash Leagues.
“These numbers demonstrate the passion of cricket fans of all ages and the massive reach that the game enjoys as our national sport.”
Earlier this month, it was announced that the BBL final – as mentioned above – delivered a record audience for Foxtel, the pay-television operator and domestic rightsholder, of over 1.3 million.
The season-ending match on February 4 was watched by an average audience of 548,000 people across Foxtel’s linear channels and streaming platform Kayo.
The figure made it the most-watched match of the BBL during Foxtel’s coverage, breaking a previous record from the 2011-12 season.
The final also drew high audience numbers on free-to-air TV, with commercial broadcaster Channel Seven securing a metro audience of 502,000.
A record-breaking 53,886 fans, meanwhile, attended Optus Stadium to watch the home team win from the final ball, the largest crowd at any BBL final – and indeed any one-day cricket match in Perth.
This season has been hailed as a comeback for the T20 competition after years of audience and viewership decline.
The above figures come less than two months after CA announced the BBL will be reduced in size as part of a new AUD1.51 billion ($1 billion) broadcast deal with Seven and Foxtel.
The seven-year deal, running from 2025 to 2031, will see the BBL reduced in size from 61 games to 43 per season in an attempt to address reduced crowds and TV ratings.
Image: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
