Photo Credit: SA20 League
The success of the inaugural Betway SA20 season has been further supported by the audience, viewership and engagement data released today. High quality and entertaining cricket dominated the 33 matches played, which included six sold out matches including the final, and a remarkable 74% of tickets sold across all matches.
With the vision to become South Africa’s No.1 sport and entertainment brand, the data from the first season reveals how Betway SA20 tapped into new markets and audiences. In-stadium attendance encouragingly reflected a much younger and more diverse audience with loyal support from families and many spectators attending a cricket match for the first time. Research conducted by the League also showed that fans very quickly developed a deep loyalty and affinity for each of the city based franchise teams. There was an 80% positive brand sentiment, showing the optimistic affinity towards South Africa’s premier T20 League.
The interest from the fans was also reflected in the positive social media engagement, which resulted in 29 million video views throughout the season, 177.5 million social media impressions and 13 million social media interactions.
Betway SA20 was broadcast to seven different territories through SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa, Viacom 18 in India, Sky Sports in the UK, Fox Sports in Australasia, Etisalat in the UAE and to the rest of the world via ICC TV.
In South Africa, the League was the most watched sport event on average on SuperSport Premium during the period, with a cumulative viewership of 8.96m. The biggest positive was the 46% female viewers who made up the unique audience and affirmed the strategic goal of being a league for everyone.
India, which is Betway SA20’s key strategic market given the six Indian Premier League (IPL) linked local franchises reported 5 billion viewing time minutes, 131 million people reached and 104 million digital video views.
League Commissioner, Graeme Smith said: “The success of the inaugural edition of Betway SA20 was a team effort. I’d like to thank the franchises, commercial partners and broadcasters for their partnership and belief in our vision, the players for entertaining us and the public for their support to fill up the stadiums and create renewed interest in South African cricket. This has been a fantastic start which gives us a great foundation as we prepare for the second season.”
Name of Author: SA20 League
SA20, officially known as the Betway SA20 for sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in South Africa organized by Cricket South Africa (CSA). First held in the 2023 season, the league features six city-based teams. Sunrisers Eastern Cape won the first two editions of the tournament.
