Mumbai: Akin to its previous editions, the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 once again proved to be a phenomenal sporting extravaganza, presenting a high-spirited blend of performances, entertainment, and engagement, while also simultaneously generating unique and highly valued opportunities for brands. With sports marketing gaining prominence year after year, studies like IPLomania help to provide a thorough analysis of the impact each brand creates in the viewers’ minds. IPLomania is a syndicated study of Hansa Research that not only captures insights about the advertised and sponsored brands but also the popularity & loyalty among fans of different teams and players during the IPL tournament.
According to Hansa Research’s IPLomania 2023 report, Shubman Gill – the Gujarat Titans’ opening batsman topped the ‘Emerging Cricketers Likeability’ list with 27 per cent of respondents choosing him to be the ‘most liked’ player during this season. Gill is followed by (in order) Matheesha Pathirana (18 per cent) of Chennai Super Kings, Rinku Singh (15 per cent) of Kolkata Knight Riders, and Yashasvi Jaiswal (10 per cent) of Rajasthan Royals.
Some of the key factors that played a pivotal role in leading to the ‘likeability’ spike include consistency in performance, providing entertainment to viewers, and risk-taking ability among others. Interestingly, while 60 per cent of respondents felt that Shubman Gill was ‘consistent with his performance’, 51% vouched for Rinku Singh’s ‘self-belief and risk-taking instincts’ during the matches, whereas 52% felt that Matheesha Pathirana ‘stepped just when the team needed him’.
As per IPLomania Report 2023, Shubman Gill rose stupendously in the Favourite Players Ranking from 69th in 2022 to 5th in 2023 while the Top 4 positions continue to be secured by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Hardik Pandya. Another significant growth to mention is Mumbai Indians’ batsman Surya Kumar Yadav, who jumped to 6th spot this year in Most Favourite Player from 12th in 2022.
Besides lifting this year’s IPL trophy and becoming the Most Favourite Player of IPL 2023, “Captain Cool” Mahendra Singh Dhoni or Mahi as he is lovingly called, added more feathers to his cap as he was announced Most Favourite Captain of the season, followed by Rohit Sharma of Mumbai Indians and Hardik Pandya of Gujarat Titans. Furthermore, not surprisingly, Dhoni’s team garnered maximum fan support as well during this year’s IPL, with 29 per cent of the IPL viewers supporting Chennai Super Kings (CSK), as against 16 per cent support in 2022.
In addition to cricketer rankings, the IPLomania 2023 report also sheds light on the growing popularity and brand recall value achieved by various brands with advertisements and marketing efforts. Based on the report findings, fantasy sports platform Dream11 has emerged as the ‘Most Recalled Brand’, followed by Tata Neu, My11Circle, and Airtel 5G. The high levels of ad-recall gained by Dream11 during IPL 2023 can be attributed to a series of interesting and innovative ads launched featuring Bollywood celebrities like Aamir Khan and R Madhavan, and ace cricketers Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya, which evidently captured the audiences’ attention and resonated with them successfully.
Notably, another significant insight is the continued dominance of ‘Dual Viewership’ (TV + OTT) for IPL, with 56 per cen of the respondents saying that they have watched the tournament through both TV and digital (OTT) mediums.
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