The IPL Final 2011

As a keen follower of cricket, The Indian Premier League (IPL) has always intrigued me with its full-throttle, no-half measure approach. Within four years, the IPL has become a  multi-million dollar tournament attracting the most exciting cricketers to India where cricket is followed like a religion. With star-studded team lineups, large Indian corporate firms funding its organisation and Indian celebrities making frequent public appearances, the IPL can easily be considered the Bollywood of cricket.  The 50 days, 74 games extravaganza concluded on the 28th May 2011 with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to be crowned champions. With all the big names and big money involved, I decided to track the conversation over the weekend of the final to see who gained the most online exposure from the event.

 

Overall Stats for 27-29 May 2011:

Volume of mentions:   1837

Media Breakdown:       93% Consumer, 6% Enterprise, 1% Press

Top Domains:               Twitter - 84%, Facebook - 4%

Top Author:                    Muhammed Umair (@umair0811) - 36 Tweets 

 

 

Share of Voice 

CSK won both the game and online conversation with 58% of all mentions. As expected, RCB’s conversation dropped significantly after the game with the team only managing to receive 16% of the online conversation. The top 3 countries of online conversation came from India, Pakistan and surprisingly Canada. Canada recently played in the international Cricket World Cup and although they are considered a minor team, there seems to be a growing base of cricket followers in the country.

 

The exposure for sponsors of the tournament didn’t transcend into high volumes of online conversation, but association with a key phrase gained the most traction. This is evident as DLF gained the most by being named every time the IPL was mentioned. Karbonn, Honda and Fly Kingfisher had a small degree of online conversation but nothing to get too excited about. Although some brands did not gain in the online community, they became top of mind and were able to leverage their brand in an entertainment space to enhance their overall reputation to more than a billion people in India.

 

Chris Gayle received the most conversation for players and can be linked to him winning the player of the tournament award. He is considered one of the most dangerous batsmen to bowl to and strikes fear into his opponents’ hearts. He received more conversation than any Indian player which shows the power of reputation to transgress social norms such as patriotism.

  

The CSK and Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni got the second most attention and received a lot of praise for leading his team to victory. As the captain/leader of the Indian national team, it is imperative that he is considered the strength of the nation and by winning the title; the tournament reinforces his reputation of being one of India’s most successful captains of all time.

 

To be honest, I get a little dizzy trying to keep up with the IPL and after a few weeks into the tournament, it all becomes a haze. After watching every second ball get smashed out the park, one’s appreciation for the skill required in smashing a boundary begins to diminish. However, the IPL has never proclaimed to be for the purist, it’s all about entertainment. It definitely makes for great viewing whilst having a TV dinner. One thing is for sure, the IPL is an excellent platform for corporate firms and players to get high levels of exposure in a country that will always be hungry for cricket, in any form.