The 2023 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) witnessed a 39 percent jump increase in overall buzz over the 2022 tournament, states a report from GroupM-owned media agency, Wavemaker. The report states that the tournament continues to gain popularity on a global scale as well, ranking as the second most popular sports event after the English Premier League. It surpasses other major sports events such as NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, and T20 Cricket World Cup.
The report suggests that IPL is expected to surpass EPL and become the most popular sporting event worldwide.
The findings are a part of Wavemaker MESH – Real Time Data Intelligence solution that released the 8th edition of Earned Equity report that reads real time environmental signals on IPL 2023. The report analyses how the audience perception of IPL has evolved over the years. It focuses on the digital audience and uses data points like consumption data around digital content and social and search insights.
The report records the social conversations around IPL 2023 based on multiple data points collated to create meaningful and actionable insights. This season report has data sources from multiple consumer touchpoints across Digital ecosystem ranging from social listening, video analytics in partnership with intuition intelligence Inc. (Viral Analytics & Insights Partner), tubular labs, CrowdTangle, user generated content with logo recognition and interaction data points collected from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Among other findings, the report highlights that the buzz score for IPL 2023 season 16 reached 484 million, surpassing the 334 million in IPL 2022. The primary reason for this surge was the emergence of several new players who showcased their talents, delivering match-winning performances and leaving a lasting impact.
The consumption of video content related to IPL 2023 has also seen significant growth, almost 2.5 times more than the previous period. The rise in video consumption reflects the increasing engagement and interest of fans across the globe. Chennai Super King and Royal Challenger Bangalore continue to be the conversation driver teams with Gujarat Titans climbing the popularity spot rapidly.
The report highlights that one of the hallmarks of IPL is its unpredictability. The IPL finals kept fans on the edge of their seats, where Ravindra Jadeja played a match-winning inning, making it one of the most talked about matches in IPL history ever. This match generated six times more conversations than the most conversed match during the league stage
Emerging talent gets noticed
While the IPL showcases established superstars, it also serves as a platform for young and emerging talent to shine. To capture the impact of Young Blood, Wavemaker MESH introduced a ‘Disruptive XI’ leader board to recognise emerging talent, with players like Rinku Singh and Yashaswi Jaiswal standing out as the ‘hottest property’ of IPL 2023.
Amongst Wavemaker MESH XI Player leader board, King Kohli continued to be the most popular sports figure in this IPL season. Rising stars like Shubman Gill, Vishnu Vinod, and Rinku Singh, who quickly gained popularity during the tournament because of their nail-biting performances also find a mention in the report.
This year Wavemaker MESH has launched a new measurement currency – Most Visible Principal Sponsor on any digital asset around IPL using technology like image recognition. According to the report, Jio emerged as most visible Principal Sponsor followed by Gulf, Slice and Happilo. Team Principal Sponsors, Jio led the leader board since it had partnered with four teams, followed by Gulf Oil’s ‘Gulf Fan Academy’ campaign for Chennai Super King which received significant engagement from the audience, Slice for Mumbai Indians, and Happilo for Royal Challenger Bangalore.
Jio Cinema viral IPL advertising
In terms of memorable advertising, Jio Cinema created the top four most viral video ads during IPL 2023, securing the top spot. Their collaboration with Sachin Tendulkar played a crucial role in creating engaging and widely shared content. Garnier Facewash Rap and Qatar Airways #PlayBold followed on the viral video content leader board.
According to Wavemaker MESH The Earned Media Equity for IPL 2023 reached Rs 3,738 crores, with sponsor Earned Media valued at Rs 871 crores. Tata, as the title partner, held the highest valuation, followed by Jio Cinema, Gulf, and Star Sports.
The earned media valuation of teams stands at Rs 2,867 crores with Chennai Super Kings with the highest earned media value, followed by Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians. Chennai Super Kings’ popularity, backed by their association with MS Dhoni, contributed to their significant valuation, which was twice that of Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Commenting on the report, Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia, Wavemaker says that in today’s competitive landscape, brands cannot afford to overlook the power of social conversations.
“I believe, the earned equity report can serve as a valuable resource for brands, offering them the insights they need to navigate the ever-changing social media landscape and reach new heights in terms of audience engagement and brand awareness,” he adds.