The recently-concluded ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 saw several stellar performances on the field. And while the players battled it out to bring the cup home, fans kept social media abuzz.
Digital agency and arm of IPG Mediabrands Interactive Avenues has released “Smashing Records, Winning Hearts: A Social Listening Report on #CWC23”, which delves into the digital conversation landscape surrounding the tournament. The report, based on data gathered from social platforms reveals insights on player popularity, most appreciated performances, talked about matches, biggest moments, and top brand partnerships.
Shantanu Sirohi, COO, Interactive Avenues, said “The unprecedented scale of social media buzz sparked by this year’s Cricket World Cup has been remarkable. Using innovative tools and techniques, our Social team analysed millions of online conversations to unearth valuable metrics around player influence, match fever, emerging talent, brand engagement, audience sentiments etc. The report validates the surging power of social media in shaping the narrative of sports across the globe.”
Overall, the tournament garnered 44.6 million mentions and drove 476 million engagements. Virat Kohli emerged as the most talked about player and batsman with 8.3 million mentions while Mohammed Shami was the most popular bowler with 1.6 million mentions, while Glen Maxwell was the top all-rounder with 1 million mentions. The most talked about match was India vs Pakistan with 2.7 million mentions, followed by India vs Australia with 2.6 million mentions.
Kohli’s record of hitting the most centuries in an ODI got 816K mentions and Maxwell’s ‘first-ever double century in an ODI chase’ drove 370K mentions, while Shami’s ‘best ODI bowling figure by an Indian’ and ‘fastest-ever to 50 wickets in the world’ garnered 306K mentions.
Virat Kohli topped the number of social media mentions at 8.3 million, followed by Rohit Sharma at 5 million mentions, Babar Azam with 1.9 million, Mohammad Shami with 1.6 million and KL Rahul with 1.1 million mentions.
Indian players on the social media charts included Shubman Gill followed by Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, and Rachin Ravindra.
Controversies making it to the social media included Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews being the first international cricketer to be ‘timed out’ and policeman at Chinnaswamy stadium stopping a Pakistani fan from raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans drove 338K engagement.
Pakistan not qualifying for the semi-finals due to a debatable LBW decision in their match against South Africa resulted in 224K engagement.
Among the brands, Coca-Cola got 3.4 million mentions, Mastercard garnered 685K mentions, Nissan got 772K mentions, Mondelez received 395K mentions, while Bira got 248K mentions. Royal Stag saw a 915 pc increase in average monthly engagement, while IndusInd’s #CheerForGreatness campaign drove a 554 pc spike in average monthly engagement.
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