Organizers of the Caribbean Premier League have announced that the Twenty20 cricket tournament has exceeded global viewership figures for the just-concluded season, with a nearly 44 percent increase over the previous year.
According to figures released by CPL, this year’s tournament enjoyed an audience of 134 million, a significant rise over the 93 million viewers that tuned it for the 2015 edition. Viewing numbers have steadily risen from 36 million recorded for the 2014 event.
“Today is a proud day and further evidence of the rising international statures of the Hero CPL, not just in the Americas, but across the UK, India, Middle East and beyond”, said CPL chief Damien O’Donohoe, noting that these global viewership figures are a tremendous boost, not for the game of cricket in the Caribbean, but for each of the local tourism boards and the local sponsors who invest so much in the development and marketing the game.
In the U.S., where matches were played for the first time in Florida, there was an increase from 694,000 to 743,000, the statement said.
O’Donohoe pointed out that the figures were also a reflection of a successful year for West Indies cricket and said organizers would continue to build on the quality product in 2017.
