Bangalore: AppsFlyer has launched the IPL 2022 Report, which deep dives into IPL 2021’s peculiar case of two rosters in April -May, and Sept-Oct, unveiling the best marketing practices and trends for this year. Further, this year’s IPL has added franchises from two of the biggest cricket markets in India – Lucknow, and Ahmedabad, creating excitement amongst online viewers and widening the scope for app marketers. Identifying and analyzing sustained trends in two legs of IPL across different app verticals last year, the report points to the bright spots for marketers, game day insights, and campaign recommendations. A good reference for marketers, the IPL report leverages the power of refreshed and expanded format of India’s mega sporting league to uplift their key brand metrics.
The two-month timeline of IPL 2021 is categorized into pre-season, during, and post, drawing insightful trends from app usage. The pre-season stage (2 weeks prior) saw user acquisition campaigns working well in most categories (Education, Entertainment, Food & Drink, Gaming, and Shopping). Hence, marketers must plan awareness campaigns in the initial stages to boost overall campaign performance while incrementally adding revenue campaigns at a later stage. There is a high occurrence of fraud during this period, and marketers need to safeguard much earlier through fraud prevention and detection solutions. As competition heats up during the matches, user retention drops, and remarketing becomes a critical tool to drive engagement. Entertainment apps achieved maximum retention (with a near-fivefold increase in 30-day retention) owing to remarketing, followed by Food & Drink and Finance. Concentrating the bulk of promotional activity during the hours of the match itself, particularly in the evening, drove purchases across most categories save for Gaming and Finance.
Aditya Maheshwari, Director of Customer Success, INSEA/ANZ, AppsFlyer, “Despite a 4-month delay and relocation to Dubai last year, IPL’s brand value has risen by 7% YoY, highlighting the marketing potential that the widely followed and anticipated league will offer in its 15th season. Newer teams from regional markets will allow marketers to acquire and engage with diverse online users while existing users will be critical to retain in the light of increasing competition. Therefore, creatives and experimentation will be the key drivers for marketers to stand out from their peers.”
The share of paying users peak in the mid-season when a bulk of IPL matches are played. Revenue campaigns work well in the mid-to-late season for most of the categories, except for Entertainment which tends to rake in more revenue and log more sessions at the start of each season. Further, campaigns that run for five to eight weeks achieved a 15% higher average impact than campaigns that run for less than two weeks.
Day in the Life: Game Day Mobile User Behaviour
- Gaming – Hits its peak purchase period in the hours between 10am to 2pm.
- Finance – Experiences its absolute highest volume of purchase activity around noon and reaches its peak in sessions from 6pm to 7pm, while purchase activity also remains nearly high as it was at noon.
- Food & Drink – Food & Drink truly shines in the evenings. In fact, the 4 hours between 6pm and 10pm account for over 37% of all daily sessions as well as 36% of all in-app purchases. From noon to 2pm, the category witnesses its second-highest peak in sessions and in-app purchases, although purchase activity remains relatively low.
- Entertainment – Almost 38% of overall sessions and 31% of Entertainment purchases are crammed between 7pm to 10pm. Marketers are recommended to focus much of their energy on this time slot.
- Shopping – Consumers are in the mood for buying stuff in the evenings. Both daily Shopping sessions and purchases are at their daily highs, with buying activity reaching its crescendo at 9pm. interestingly, while Shopping sessions decrease gradually, purchases continue to stay high from 11pm to 1am in the morning.
