U.S. Interest Grows in Watching Cricket World Cup via New Technology
(SPORTS TECHNOLOGY)
Cricket may not generate the interest in the United States that college basketball does, but there were many viewers watching the recent World Cup.
In fact, there was so much interest in the matches – especially the one which put rivals India and Pakistan together on the field – that streaming video watched by U.S. fans slowed down.
The Associated Press reports that Shiek Mohamed, webmaster for www.newyorkcricket.com, was watching the India-Pakistan semifinal, and saw that the streaming video was running slower than normal.
"There were just so many people looking at it," Mohamed told The AP.
Viewers can watch the cricket World Cup by getting a package through a satellite TV provider, the AP explained. But viewers not only watched on TVs, they watched on computers, smartphones and tablets. In addition, viewers employed “Internet video systems to follow the stream on their television sets,” the AP said.
Willow TV, which owns the U.S. rights to broadcast the World Cup cricket games, has some 100,000 users who have either Web or mobile access, Sagnik Roy, head of the company’s marketing and sales departments, told the AP.
Many fans watching on TVs or other large-screen devices tend to gather in groups to watch the cricket games.
In fact, the United States of America Cricket Club (USAICC), an indoor cricket practice facility in Westbury, New York, invited the public to watch the India-Pakistan rivalry on an ultra-wide projection screen that was brought in especially for the World Cup. Refreshments were served, too.
India and Pakistan are cricket rivals and the rivalry is one of the strongest sports rivalries anywhere. The India-Pakistan cricket match gets some 100 million viewers globally, according to Initiative. In India, the recent Pakistan vs. India match saw a record viewership of 20.02 points, according to a report from MoneyLife.
Viewer enthusiasm led to a 514 percent increase in the ratings for sports over the average, MoneyLife adds.
Still, in the United States college basketball leading to the national championship – with the men’s tournament won by the University of Connecticut – created a lot of viewer interest.
TMCnet reported that NeuLion (News - Alert) streamed over 400 live college basketball games during the first half of March. General viewers spent an average of 31 minutes watching this kind of content, according to TMCnet. The NCAA championship was also broadcast by NeuLion.
Ed Silverstein is a TMCnet contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Janice McDuffee
