In a press release on Wednesday 12 January, Cricket West Indies stated that countries hosting the ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup 2022 will receive priceless global exposure. This is possible as 20 of the 48 tournament matches are being broadcast to almost 200 nations.
ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley says the 16-team event–starting in Guyana on Friday–will have greater digital reach which will make it easier for fans worldwide to follow.
“We’ll have coverage of this event on a larger scale than for any previous Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup. There are over 175 territories around the world that will be receiving the broadcast of matches on television,” he revealed, speaking to Trinidad and Tobago media yesterday.
“We’ve got a digital workforce that’s expanded significantly in recent times (as seen by) the amount of coverage online on the official event website (u19cwc.com). It will be the place to see all the digital content we capture from broadcast games, and importantly from the games that we’re not able to cover live on television. It’s a large digital footprint.”
Digital Exposure
Highlighting ESPN as the tournament’s exclusive broadcaster in the Caribbean, Tetley added the International Cricket Council (ICC) is “finalizing radio (and streaming) coverage arrangements” which will bolster the options for cricket’s international audience to engage with the event digitally.
Douglas Camacho, Chairman of Trinidad and Tobago’s Local Organising Committee for the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, agreed that the demographic organisers are seeking to attract “live in the digital world”.
“A lot of young people follow sport digitally… so we can reach them through video, streaming, etc. People will have the opportunity to follow their teams, their players, their stars.”
On a related note, Chief Executive of Tourism Trinidad Limited, Kurtis Rudd, acknowledged the unique circumstances of hosting sporting events during the COVID-19 pandemic has opened officials’ eyes to “the potential reach of faraway markets… millions of people that we possibly wouldn’t have tried to reach if not for us operating in a virtual environment”.
“One of the learnings would be to find a hybrid approach, where we can still capture that vibe – because that’s our differentiator as a country – and broadcast that throughout the world to millions of people that we could reach virtually,” he said.
