Chennai Super Kings get top spot in fandom: Rediffusion Red Lab

Rediffusion’s Red Lab which tracks consumer behaviour, has rated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as No. 1 on fandom at the close of the current IPL. 

Mumbai Indians are a not-so-close second while Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are a distant third. 

The Rediffusion Red Lab team tracked and analysed the fan involvement of all teams over the past two months, interviewing/meeting/interacting with 1213 fans of all the ten teams that played in the tournament. 

What is fandom? It is simply fan loyalty to a team. 

How is fandom calculated? The first sign is hand-raising or clear identification - Yes, I support this team. Keeping track of the favourite team’s scores or performance is the first stage of belongingness. The next layer is watching the team matches on television or staying up-to-date with its live play on digital. ‘The team and its players are in my conversations with family and friends cements fandom further. Buying merchandise and going to the stadium to watch and cheer the choice team is the acme of fandom.

CSK tops score at 79%. MI are at 72% while RCB lag sat at 61%. 

Of the new teams, Gujarat Titans (GT) have not done poorly with a 58% score, placing them in fifth place, just a notch behind 4th ranked Kolkata Knight Riders who scored 59%. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad (32%) are last in the rankings and Delhi Capitals at 37% are second last at the tail.

“This is a study of the glue that binds a team and its fans. The IPL has been around for 16 years now - sufficient time has elapsed for choices to be made, loyalty to be shaped and for fans to either love a team or be indifferent to it,” said Sandeep Goyal, Managing Director of Rediffusion. 

Interestingly 42% of CSK’s fan base is from outside of Chennai. So, loyalty is not driven by city/geographical affiliation or residence alone. Not surprisingly 72% of fans attribute their affinity and preference for CSK to MS Dhoni. 

Rohit Sharma at MI is way lower at 23% but Virat Kohli scores better at 51% for RCB. For Lucknow Giants (LG), KL Rahul does well at 49%.

Rediffusion’s Red Lab tracks trends across genres. This study was conducted across all 10 IPL team franchisee locations.

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