We all know that support and shoutouts from fans greatly boosts morale and team spirit. And... unsurprisingly CSK had the lion's share of engagement and shoutouts just before the finals. TimesNow agrees too ! Here’s a look at the mentions from the internet just hours before the final and it pretty much decided the fate of the winning team.
The violet part shows Sunrisers and the pink shows CSK.
And... here’s how India feels about the winning team.
The most used emojis are the lion and yellow heart - both associated with CSK. The lion is a part of the logo and #Yellove is one of the team hashtags. It’s safe to say that CSK has definitely won both on and off the field.
Social media is more than just a bunch of vanity metrics. If used properly, it can be quite a reliable source of data for any number of business/product decisions. Here are some interesting facts about this edition of the IPL.
1. #CSKvSRH was used around 172k times on the day of the finals
The match hashtag #CSKvSRH was used 171.8k times on the day of the final on May 27. This is over double (~78k) the number of times the match hashtag (#MIvRPS) was used in the finals in 2017.
This means that more and more people are talking about IPL and engagement is growing. Especially considering the fact that IPL 2017 was the buzziest season of IPL till before this season.
IPL 2018 spectacularly outshone 2017 in terms of social buzz.
So, if you’re a brand, chances are that with the right hashtags, the number of people you reach during IPL will only increase.
IPL Finals 2018
IPL Finals 2017.
2. Dhoni made history with a record-breaking 1.3 million mentions on social media
Dhoni made history this season by leading CSK (also known as Dad’s Army) to victory at this year’s IPL. He had a point to prove after being stripped of his captaincy last year when he played for the Royal Pune Supergiants and the buzz on social is a direct reflection of the fact that he did well! He has a whopping 1.3M mentions this IPL as compared to last year’s ~200k.
That’s well over a 5X increase!
3. CSK was the most “buzzy” IPL team
CSK returned to the IPL after two years following a betting scandal. But the absence seems to have worked in their favor rather than the opposite. Throughout this year’s IPL they were the most popular team with a whopping 38% of mentions.That’s three times the number of mentions of the next most popular team - Mumbai Indians and almost 4 times the number of mentions for Sunrisers Hyderabad who they faced in the final match.
So if you were a brand looking for a team/franchise to promote your product in this year’s edition of the IPL, CSK was probably a good bet, considering they returned after 2 years, looking back to get in the game.
4. #WhistlePodu was the most used team hashtag
The two year hiatus really seemed to have worked in CSK’s favor. #Whistlepodu - the official hashtag for CSK received 1.3 million mentions during this edition of IPL. That makes it the most used hashtag amongst all the IPL franchises. Of course, it helps that the team did win IPL this year!
5. The IPL is very popular outside India
IPL is not just popular in India - though it is a domestic tournament. It’s also popular outside of India. This heat map shows that the buzz about IPL is pretty much everywhere, with a special focus on the Commonwealth countries. (The warmer -red/orange- the area the greater the buzz.)
Here’s where the IPL buzz is at:
So if you’re a brand looking to engage with this particular demographic, the IPL is a golden opportunity to design a multi-channel marketing campaign.
6. CSK received the most support from their home-state
It’s also interesting to note that CSK received the most support from their home state, followed by Delhi Daredevils. Here’s a look at which teams had the biggest cheerleaders from their home base:
CSK rules the roost here with DD in close pursuit.
7. #CSKvSRH before and after the final
Both teams were undisputably the toast of this year's IPL season - with one returning after a 2 year hiatus and 1 being a relatively new team. But here's how one fared against the other before and after the finals
CSK was ruling the sentiment game before the match.
And unsurprisingly, after the match too. Interestingly, we see that SRH didn’t really take that much of a hit.
So an overall happy end to the IPL. This year’s historic tournament has got us looking forward to the IPL next year already.
