The Hundred, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) new 100-ball franchise tournament, has recorded a total television audience of 16.1 million viewers.
Overall, 510,000 tickets were sold and issued across the competition, with the tournament involving eight men’s and eight women’s teams from cities across England and Wales, with each time playing on the same day.
The ECB’s objective when creating the tournament of attracting a new, younger and more diverse audience to the sport has been broadly achieved according to the governing body’s statistics.
Total spectator numbers for women’s fixtures stood at 267,000 – the previous record being the 136,000 who watched the women’s T20 World Cup in 2020 – with attendance the highest ever recorded for a women’s cricket event globally.
Meanwhile, viewership for the finals peaked at 2.4 million for the men’s game and 1.4 million for the women’s game, whilst total video viewership for the tournament stood at 34.3 million.
“The Hundred is all about throwing cricket’s doors open – and we’ve seen in year one how it’s already delivering,” said Tom Harrison, ECB Chief Executive Officer.
“It’s provided outstanding entertainment for new and existing fans alike, unearthed new cricketing heroes, and it’s been fantastic to see so many children and families enjoying the action. It’s also changed the game for women’s cricket, smashing record after record and creating role models for girls and boys to be inspired by.”
Additionally, 57% of viewers had not watched any other live ECB cricket in 2021, 55% of ticket buyers hadn’t bought a ticket for cricket in the UK prior to the creation of the tournament.
Lastly, with regards to age and gender demographics, 19% of all tickets sold were held by children, 59% were purchased by those under the age of 45 and 21% of attendees were women.
The ECB’s figures build on data published by Nielsen Sports in July, which revealed that the audience for the opening game of the series stood at 1,215,000 on the BBC alone, with 12% of viewers under the age of 25 and 39% being female.
Harrison continued: “We need to grow cricket, reach more people and inspire more children to pick up a bat and ball – and that’s exactly what The Hundred does. If we’ve got more people playing the game, we have more county and Test stars of the future. That’s why we need to build on the success of this year and come back even better in 2022.”
“The Hundred couldn’t have been the success it has been this year without the incredible support of Sky and the BBC, our commercial partners, the host venues, the wider cricket network and so many more people, and we’re grateful to all of them.”
The ECB has also highlighted the financial benefits of the tournament, which it outlined has provided ‘an important new revenue stream’ for domestic men’s and women’s as well as grassroots cricket, with the organisation’s revenue now standing at £50 million, leaving a surplus of £10 million for investment.
