Perth [Australia]: Fans turned out in record numbers at Perth Stadium for the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener, with the single highest attendance for a day of Test cricket in Perth recorded on days one and two. The Perth Test attendance saw a remarkable 63% increase year-on-year.
Additionally, average viewing audiences were up by 30% year-on-year, reflecting the immense interest in the match, as the data provided by Cricket Australia.
Cricket Australia also reported record engagement across their digital channels, highlighting the widespread excitement and engagement with the event both at the stadium and across Australia.
Day one and two at Perth Stadium set records for attendance at any Test Match in Perth, with 31,302 and 32,368 going through the gates respectively. The total attendance was 96,463, the second-highest total attendance ever recorded in Perth and the highest at Perth Stadium.
The Perth Scorchers also achieved an attendance record at their Weber WBBL match which was held at the WACA Ground on the evening of day two of the West Test which meant that more than 100,000 people attended the cricket over the four days.
Ticket sales for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series are more than 2.5 times higher than for the 2018-19 India tour and public tickets are currently exhausted for day one at The Gabba in Brisbane, according to Cricket Australia.
Big crowds are also forecast in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney with fans encouraged to buy their tickets as soon as possible.
The Perth Test dominated TV ratings on each of the first three days, with seven sessions averaging more than 1 million viewers across all platforms (Seven, 7plus Sport, Foxtel, Foxtel Go, Foxtel Now and Kayo Sports), including 1.6m nationally for the third session of Day 1.
Daily average viewing audiences increased 30% on last season’s Perth Test against Pakistan across the first three days. This was the first time fans were able to stream Test cricket on 7plus Sport in addition to Kayo Sports, Foxtel Go and Foxtel Now.
Cricket Australia digital channels saw a surge in engagement, with 2.7 million people from within Australia visiting cricket.com.au and the Cricket Australia Live app across the Test – and 8.4 million users globally.
Records were also broken from videos watched on cricket.com.au and the Cricket Australia Live app, with views from Australian users up 30% compared with the first Test of last summer.
The vast global reach of the series was also evident with 259 million video views across Cricket Australia’s social media channels during the Test match.