Photo Credit: Brisbane Heat
The KFC Big Bash League extends its sincere thanks to the fans, clubs and partners who ensured BBL|10 was the most-watched tournament in league history.
An average audience of over 1.4 million watched the Sydney Sixers claim their third KFC BBL title in thrilling fashion over the Perth Scorchers on Saturday night across Seven, Foxtel and streaming services including Kayo. That represented a 15% increase on the BBL|09 Final and ranked as the fourth most watched BBL game ever.
The KFC BBL|10 Final reached 2.5 million viewers on Seven and 669,000 on Foxtel, capping an extraordinary season in which as players, officials, staff and broadcast partners successfully navigated through the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the other KFC BBL|10 data highlights:
- The total audience of 44.82m across the 61-game tournament was the highest in league history – an increase of 5.9% across all platforms YoY, including linear TV growth of 1.4%,
- The total audience of 5.64m across the five-game Finals series was the highest in league history – an increase of 15% on last season,
- The average audience per match in KFC BBL|10 was 735k per game across all platforms, ensuring the Big Bash League remains the most-watched sporting league in Australia on a per-game basis. The linear TV audience of 675k was 9k higher than KFC BBL|09, while the streaming platform average of 60k per game represented 109% growth YoY,
- The most-watched KFC BBL tournament was also the highest scoring from a first innings runs perspective. The 168.1 average first innings score (excluding abandoned and DLS affected matches) was up three runs on the previous benchmark of 165 set in KFC BBL|06,
- In addition, the 643 sixes hit across the season were the most in the competition’s history, up 6.5% on KFC BBL|09. This season also saw nine scores of 90+, the most in a single season.
These outcomes were only possible because of the quality of talent on display, with the addition of a third overseas player to rosters complementing the best of Australian cricket. Never was this more evident than with the champion Sydney Sixers, who boasted the Player of the Final in James Vince – the first overseas player to achieve the feat – along with the Player of the Tournament in Josh Philippe at the top of the order.
Despite crowd restrictions, border closures and the need to stage the tournament in a bio-secure hub, a total of 522,140 fans attended matches across Covid-safe venues in seven states and territories.
Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s Head of Big Bash Leagues, said:
“The KFC BBL has the best fans in the country and we are grateful to the record number of Australians who tuned in to watch our tenth season,” Dobson said.
“Bringing joy to our fans was the driving force for everyone across the league and clubs all season and we thank every one of them, whether they watched on TV or a device, listened on radio or attended at the stadium. We trust they enjoyed the incredible action on display in KFC BBL|10 and we can’t wait to welcome them back next season, hopefully in a more relaxed public health environment.
“I would also like to take the opportunity to once again thank all state and territory governments, KFC BBL clubs including all players and staff, match officials, broadcast partners Seven, Foxtel, Kayo and SEN, commercial partners KFC ,BKT, Toyota, Sanitarium, Bupa, venues and curators and our own people who made this extraordinary season happen. Your commitment to the success of the Big Bash in unprecedented times cannot be overstated.”
