Men’s tournament begins with England v New Zealand tomorrow, 5 October
The ICC has revealed the digital and broadcast plans for the men’s Cricket World Cup.
The tournament gets underway tomorrow, 5 October, with a replay of the 2019 final between England and New Zealand. All matches wil be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK, with free-to-air daily highlights on Channel 5.
Disney Star is the host broadcaster for the event, and will be airing it in the host nation, India. There will also be a vertical feed produced by ICC TV and Disney Star in India. WillowTV and ESPN+ are airing the competition in the US, with SuperSport in South Africa and 52 Sub-Saharan territories, Fox Sports, Channel Nine and Kayo in Australia, Sky Sport NZ in New Zealand, Starzplay in MENA as well as CricLife Max in specifically the UAE.
Content from the vertical feed will also be utilised across digital and social, which now include new broadcast channels on WhatsApp and Instagram. These will show match highlights, breaking team news and viral videos.
The ICC has also partnered with Meta to partner with more than 500 creators across India. These creators will be given exclusive access at matches to create content, with every match to have local creator in attendance to produce content in the local language.
In addition, for the first time the ICC website and app will have individual highlights of every player involved in the event. They will also have fielding positions available in real time alongside a new and improved VR shot tracker. Also, the winner of the ICC and Nium hackathon, sees app users able to place a 3D augmentaed reality stadium in their living rooms, but this won’t be available until later in the tournament.
There are also digital collectibles, a fantasy league game, a mobile video game, and, later in the tournament, a pre-match quiz game called Captain’s Call that sees fans compete against each other for prizes.
ICC head of digital Finn Bradshaw said: “The ICC’s digital offering for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will be bigger and better than ever before. Years of planning have culminated in an array of experiences tailored for people across the world. We can’t wait to bring hundreds of millions of fans closer than they’ve ever been to a cricket event before.”
No comments yet