Women’s World Cup: Cricket is no longer dominated by just male stars, the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur besides Alyssa Healy have been to difficult to ignore for cricket fans. Their performance and consistent nail-biting thrillers have seen a whopping 50% increase in the number of audience with 35% of Indians on Twitter following the conversation, as per exclusive data disclosed by Twitter to InsideSport.IN. Follow IPL 2022, AUS-W vs ENG-W Women’s World Cup Final Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.
IPL 2022: Twitter releases SPECIAL EMOJIS for CSK, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, PBKS, RR & MI – Check out
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
The T20 World Cup 2020 set the benchmark as Team India reached the final against Australia. Although India lost in the final, it proved to the millions of cricket fans that India had become a threat to the more-developed women’s cricket teams like Australia, South Africa and England as it was the second consecutive final in a World Cup event. The event had a whopping 1.1 billion views.
InsideSport had an exclusive chat with Neha Sharma Katyal, Business Head – West and South, Twitter India and Rishabh Sharma, Head, Twitter Next in and around cricket and how is the social media giant trying to leverage the momentum. Here are the excerpts…
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
On trend in cricket conversations:
Cricket on Twitter is now about engaging with other fans of the game, athletes, content, brands and publishers. 67% of the online population in India are fans of cricket, and 75% of people on Twitter are a part of this influential community. Last year, between January 2021 – January 2022, we saw over 96.2 million Tweets around Cricket in India, which is an explicit identifier of the love this sport holds amidst our audience.
#CricketTwitter community is not just consuming the content but actively driving the conversation. Over 4.4 million unique authors drove the conversation in 2021. Indian Premier League drove 77.1% of conversations followed closely by the T20 World Cup and ODI Cricket at 65.5% and 54%, respectively.
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
On rise of women’s cricket fans:
A significant trend that we have seen in our audience is the increased interest in the ICC Women’s World Cup, which is steadily picking up pace with 35% of Indians on Twitter following the conversation. We have witnessed a 50% increase in the number of women cricket fans who are interested in women events. Another significant trend that we witnessed was that the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 was the most-watched women’s cricket event with over 1.1 billion views.
Moreover, March 6, 2022, we launched an emoji dedicated to Mithali Raj to give her fans another reason to celebrate the incredible career she’s had before she bid adieu to her international cricket career. Fans and brands could activate the emoji by using hashtags like #Mithali, #ThankYouMithali, #ThankYouSkipper.
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
On conversations around IPL 2022:
Cricket fans across the country join the conversation related to the schedule, auctions, sponsors and keep a close eye on all news pertaining to the tournament. The league’s auction continues to be a major moment on Twitter, and we saw over 5 million Tweets in the week of IPL auction with #IPL2022MegaAuction and #IPLAuction, #TATAIPLAuction, #IPL2022, #WhistlePodu, #SuperAuction being some of the top hashtags across the days of the event.
Audience on Twitter reacted to CSK reacquiring Deepak Chahar as he became their most expensive buy, Mumbai Indians signing back Ishan Kishan who became the most expensive player in the auction and far more importantly, people on Twitter united to wish IPL auctioneer Hugh Edmeades good health and also came out to support Charu Sharma as he had to takeover the auction proceedings on day one.
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
Anddddd the king is back ❤️the greatest finisher ever in the game. Made me jump Outta my seat once again tonight.@msdhoni
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) October 10, 2021
Virat Kohli continues to drive conversations
In 2021, the most Tweeted about Indian athletes featured Virat Kohli, followed by MS Dhoni. Virat has been and continues to be a key voice on Twitter and we see fans consistently engage with him on the service. In fact, the most Retweeted and Liked sports Tweet in India in 2021 was Virat Kohli’s appreciation for MS Dhoni’s match-winning heroics against the Delhi Capitals. As expected, the decision regarding captaincy brought a lot of discussion on Twitter.
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
Most followed match on Twitter:
If we look at the most talked about cricket moments on Twitter in India last year – the IPL final between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders, #INDvPAK at the T20 World Cup, and the IPL Qualifier 1 between Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings were among the most iconic matches that drove incremental conversations on Twitter. The final clash between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders delivered over 1.81 million Tweets within a day.
Bigger IPL, Bigger Audience:
77.1% Indians on Twitter follow IPL, making it the second most followed cricket event, just next to the ICC Cricket World Cup, which is followed by 88.2% Indians on Twitter. With the addition of 2 new teams, the world’s biggest cricket league just became bigger and with that, Twitter went into overdrive. The tournament has now made room for new fanbases, local brand partnerships, product integrations and editorial tie-ups to emerge, creating an uptick in conversations and memes on the timeline.
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
How is Twitter leveraging increasing fan base for businesses?
Star Sports took to Twitter to share the announcement about onboarding Ravi Shastri and Suresh Raina on their commentary panel. The announcement conference was live-streamed by broadcaster #OnlyOnTwitter, and Byju’s took the opportunity to associate with the live video – reaching an amplified audience that is already looped into the raging cricket conversation.
Global Twitter Next & ArtHouse – We also provide 360-degree solutions through our teams like Global Twitter Next – which is the brand strategy arm at Twitter and ArtHouse — a creative suite of services to assist brands in creating and optimising Twitter-first content.
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
Spotlight- API solutions aid brands to scale their narratives almost instantly. Other interesting formats to explore range from virtual cricket viewing parties to interactive LIVE streams. We offer customisable ad products like Promoted Trend Spotlight, which places the brand’s message/event at a premium position on Twitter’s Explore tab – promising optimised visibility and impact. The Takeover property runs for 24 hours, generating impact throughout the funnel and increasing the brand’s engagement.
VirtualBlueRoom – Twitter is offering brands an exclusive opportunity to partner with celebrity hosts and cricketers that can elevate their content. We have a stellar lineup with #OnlyOnTwitter cricket content.
This season, FinTech brand CRED is leveraging Twitter’s Amplify Sponsorship by partnering with Indian cricket experts.
Women’s World Cup: Women’s cricket set to be NEXT BIG thing, Twitter declares, ‘50% increase in audience around WC’
