Digital streaming and free to Air services take cricket to more New Zealanders than ever before

A total of 1.86 million viewers watched six matches broadcast live on free to air TVNZ while more than 240,000 watched one of New Zealand Women’s game against Australia Women this year on the digital streaming platform of Spark Sport. These numbers are just a glimpse of what has been achieved as this year turned out to be the best in terms of cricket viewing ever since broadcast emerged in the island nation. 

This success has filled Spark Sport with enthusiasm as it has achieved something that had never been done before in just the first year of its six-year broadcast deal with New Zealand Cricket. Digital streaming is being considered a groundbreaking addition to cricket viewing "which is taking cricket to not only more Kiwis but demographics of New Zealanders previously lost to the game".

Head of Spark Sport, Jeff Latch believes that since almost half of its customers are people below 34 years, the increasing number shows that the game is being consumed by the youth on the go, which is a good sign for any sporting nation. "It shows that New Zealand households are embracing streaming, which is consistent with the global experience, in which it is now the norm," he said about the increased numbers of digital streaming. 

While the number of vies of highlights snapshots increased, Test cricket and Super Smash and Women’s Super Smash, the domestic T20 tournaments of the country along with Test cricket also saw a huge rise in viewership. However, the most viewed game remained one of the T20Is during the Australia series which attracted 1.24 million viewers. 

"We're hugely encouraged," said David White the CEO of NZC while talking about the latest positive results. "The production was professional; the look and feel were fresh and appealing - it was everything we were hoping for,” he added. 

White further went on to establish the increasing popularity of cricket by saying that the game is being picked up by more youth every year. "On top of the increase in viewership, our latest census is also indicating a significant increase in the number of New Zealanders playing cricket - including a 12% increase in the number of female participants, and a nine per cent increase in the number of males.”