With IPL 9, cricket just got bigger on Facebook and Instagram

IPL 9 registers 360 million interactions and over 140 million video views on Facebook. Virat Kohli was the most talked about player and the newest team, Gujarat Lions was the most talked about team this season

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | June 1, 2016

If you think the ninth season of Indian Premier League (IPL) only garnered eyeballs on television, then you are wrong. It garnered as many as over 360 million interactions on Facebook and Instagram. The Silicon Valley giant has shared insights on the number of interactions the popular cricket season generated on social media.

30 million people joined the conversation on Facebook during the ninth edition of the IPL. With 360 million posts, comments and likes, this year's tournament drove the highest level of conversation Facebook has measured for any IPL. The Facebook pages of the IPL and 8 teams totalled over 140 million video views during the season.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain and player of the tournament Virat Kohli was the most talked about player and the newest team, Gujarat Lions was the most talked about team of this season.

For the second year in a row the most viewed video on Facebook during the IPL was the bhangra dancing trio of Mandeep Singh, Virat Kolhi and Chris Gayle, from RCB. Last year they wowed the audience with their dancing in the dressing room and this year the celebration video uploaded by Mandeep Singh following their Raipur match didn't disappoint with over 7 million views.

During the 50-day tournament, the IPL Facebook page grew by over 2 million fans to 18.3 million. The new teams this season, the Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions, made most of the newest features of Facebook, giving fans a never before seen access to players and owners. Rising Pune Supergiants shared the first ever 360 video from a cricket pitch. Gujarat Lions held numerous Facebook Lives with owner Keshav Bansal as well as coach Brad Hodge.

Players were equally active on Facebook. Shikhar Dhawan kicked off the season with a Facebook Live in advance of the opening ceremony in Mumbai to connect with his fans. Team captain Rohit Sharma shared an emotional thank you to fans following the Mumbai Indians' last match of the season.

IPL teams also collaborated with their players and fans to create unique Facebook and Instagram content by engaging with fans. The Kolkata Knight Riders, the top IPL team on Facebook with over 14 million fans, created the exclusive video series #InsideKKR, as well as fun post-match Boomerang videos.

Instagram played a role in facilitating conversations around the tournament. The league, players and teams all took to the platform to exclusively share their anticipations and excitement with fans. Some of them being Virat Kolhi's ode to RCB fitness coach Shankar Basu; Ravindra Jadeja's exclusive wedding photo; Shikhar Dhawan and his Sunrisers teammates attempting to sing their team song after qualifying for the IPL finals among others.

Fans on Facebook also got in on the action and demonstrated their support by adding team frames to their profiles. During the IPL, frames were used over 9.5 million times by fans around the world. IPL fans the world over joined the conversation on Facebook through dedicated prompts and messages.

How IPL 2015 played out on Facebook

The season only got bigger compared to last year. Last year witnessed 29 million people globally having 312 million interactions about the IPL season on Facebook, while in India, 21 million people had 246 million interactions.

The final match between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings drove 2.4 million interactions from 1.2 million people globally. About 75 per cent of the conversation took place in India, with 912,000 people driving 1.9 million interactions.

The most talked players during the final match were Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians) and MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings). 2015s IPL will be remembered for a thrilling quest for the championship, with Facebook being the go-to platform for information, analysis and conversation before, during and after matches.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com