ITV

Category: Social Media

  • Twitter empowers Premier League with fan map

    Twitter empowers Premier League with fan map

    MUMBAI: The social media platform Twitter has been more helpful than just generating social conversations. It has been useful in understanding drivers of various sports properties in areas like cricket and football. Now with the Twitter fan map, the 20 Premier League clubs can view their fans’ locations by a detailed global breakdown of their followers.

     

    As each country divides municipalities differently (counties, states, territories, etc.), Twitter has employed a technique called hexagonal binning, which divides the map into equally-sized hexagons, like a honeycomb, so you can see fandom by region instead of treating each country as one big region. 

     

    Below are a few Asia, UK and global trends that have been collated:

     

    The Asian split:

    The outlook is different in Asia, where Manchester United takes a strong grip on India and Pakistan, while battling with @ChelseaFC for control of football-mad Malaysia and Indonesia. @LFC fare slightly less well in those countries but bounce back with a big lead in Thailand. Meanwhile, @Arsenal taste success in Japan, South Korea and The Philippines.

     

    UK: Old order remains: 

     

    A glance at the UK map shows that Liverpool (@LFC) dominates. There are pockets of red (Manchester United, @ManUtd) and yellow (Arsenal – @Arsenal), but green is most prevalent, spreading from Merseyside north to Scotland, south towards London and into Wales and Ireland.

     

    @LFC, @ManUtd and @Arsenal have 51 top-division titles between them, and that historic success shines through.

     

    Gunners take London: There are six Premier League teams in London, but one stands apart from the rest in terms of Twitter followers: @Arsenal. Not only do the Gunners have more followers in their own locale of Highbury and Islington, but they also edge out arch-rivals Tottenham (@SpursOfficial) and @ChelseaFC in their backyards. Crystal Palace (@CPFC) also see their home turned Arsenal yellow, while West Ham (@WHUFC_official) and Queens Park Rangers (@QPRFC) are shaded out by Liverpool green.

     

    Manchester City (@MCFC), meanwhile, win one valuable territory in the centre of Manchester, amid a sea of @ManUtd red.

     

    Derby day: Football centres around traditional rivalries and four of the biggest in the Premier League end with home wins. North London is very much red with @Arsenal getting the better of @SpursOfficial; The Merseyside derby sees @LFC overcome @Everton on this occasion; The battle in Manchester sees the red of @ManUtd sink the blue of @MCFC; In the Midlands it is @AVFCofficial that take ownership of Birmingham at the expense of West Brom (@wbafcofficial); And it’s @NUFC that claim the northeast with more territory than bitter rivals @SunderlandAFC.

     

    Player power: In many countries, Premier League allegiance appears to be related to, at least in part, the presence of local players. That’s evident for Suarez and Sanchez in Uruguay and Chile, and also for Edin Dzeko (@EdDzeko) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Manchester City takes a rare first place.

     

    Off the pitch: What other factors, beyond the more obvious ones such as player affiliation and geographical impact, could influence a team’s fan base?

     

    A few other interesting connections from the report are as follows:

    · @Arsenal break @ChelseaFC’s dominance in the Middle East by edging ahead in United Arab Emirates, which is home to their stadium and kit sponsors, Emirates Airline (@emirates).

     

    · @QPRFC hugely outperforms their average Twitter follower ranking in Malaysia, where they are seventh. Malaysian entrepreneur and the club chairman Tony Fernandes may have something to do with this.

     

    · Last word goes – as it often does in the football world – to Roman Abramovich. The Russian businessman owns @ChelseaFC, which leads with fans across Russia and the former Soviet countries.

     

    Each view of the interactive map can be Tweeted or embedded by clicking either the ‘Tweet this view’ or ‘Embed this view’ buttons at the top of the screen.

     

    The interactive map has been built by Twitter’s visualisation scientist Krist Wongsuphasawat, to discover which teams dominate each country, and where loyalties lie at a district-level in the United Kingdom.

     

    The map was created by looking at the official Twitter accounts for each team, using their followers as an indicator of allegiance (as opposed to, say, instances in which people mention a team while watching an interesting matchup or talking about a team’s rival).

     

    The primary view shows at a glance, which teams dominate each country around the world:

     

    Finding ones club: Discover how a club fares in each country. Use the ‘Zoom to’ function in the right-hand corner of the map to instantly explore your club’s presence in any given country.

     

    Compare clubs: Pick any two teams and compare where they have their biggest density of followers. Compare local rivals such as Arsenal and Chelsea FC who face each other in a London derby this Sunday.

     

    Most popular clubs: Use the dropdown menu to determine who the most popular clubs are in an area of your choice.

     

    UK: This is the only view where you can zoom right in, region-by-region, to discover a breakdown of where loyalties lie at a local UK level.

     

  • IPL opening eight days total 74.7 million live impressions: Twitter Brand index

    IPL opening eight days total 74.7 million live impressions: Twitter Brand index

    MUMBAI: With 74.7 million live impressions during the opening eight days of the eighth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Twitter is abuzz with excitement. While defending champs Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have had a stop-start beginning, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) rushed out of the gates and the Indian captain led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) continued to be crowd favourites as there was hardly any surprise on their first match versus Delhi Daredevils (DD) being the most talked about game on Twitter between 8 – 15 April, 2015.

     

    Below are the games ranked in descending order of the most live impressions: 

     

    1. #KKRvMI (8 April 2015)

    2. #CSKvDD (9 April)

    3. #KKRvRCB (11 April)

    4. #CSKvSRH (11 April)

    5. #RCBvSRH (11 April)

    6. #MIvKXIP (12 April)

    7. #RRvMI (14 April)

    8. #DDvRR (12 April)

    9. #KXIPvRR (10 April)

    10.  #KXIPvDD (15 April)

     

    Top Moments, on the basis of Tweets Per Minute, between 8 – 15 April, 2015 were: 

     

    1. Chennai Super Kings beat Delhi Daredevils by one run.

    2. Royal Challengers Bangalore defeats Kolkata Knight Riders by three wickets.

    3. Kolkata Knight Riders defeats Mumbai Indians by seven wickets

    4. Chennai Super Kings’ Brendon McCullum brings up his century off 56 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

    5. Kings XI Punjab defeats Mumbai Indians by 18 runs.

     

    #Orangecap & #Purplecap

     

    Most mentioned batsmen and bowlers on Twitter during the Live Match Windows with the hash tags #OrangeCap and #PurpleCap are:

     

    Batsmen:

    1. Yuvraj Singh (Orange Cap) (@YUVSTRONG12)
    2. Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45)
    3. Chris Gayle (@henrygayle)

    Bowlers:
     

    1. Harbhajan Singh (Purple Cap) (@harbhajan_singh)
    2. Morne Morkel (@mornemorkel65)
    3. Ashish Nehra

     

    Ranking of Most Mentioned IPL Teams on Twitter from 8 – 15 April:

     

    1. Kolkata Knight Riders
    2. Chennai Super Kings
    3. Mumbai Indians
    4. Delhi Daredevils
    5. Kings XI Punjab
    6. Royal Challengers Bangalore
    7. Rajasthan Royals
    8. Sunrisers Hyderabad

     

  • YouTube to launch ad free subscription based model in India

    YouTube to launch ad free subscription based model in India

    MUMBAI: Google’s popular video hosting platform YouTube has been a boon to independent content makers as it enables them to exhibit their talent to a worldwide audience. Now, in order to enhance user experience, YouTube is all set to launch a subscription based ad free model in India. According to sources close to the development, YouTube is planning to launch the innovation around mid June for Indian consumers.

     

    While viewers are offered a wide range of content on the platform, almost all content on YouTube starts with an advertisement wherein the option of skipping it is sometime available and sometimes not. Ads often pop up in the middle of the content too, which interrupts the flow of the viewers.

     

    The new subscription based ad free platform will ignite the long sustaining debate of the whether a video on demand (VOD) platform should follow the advertising or subscription based revenue model. Advertising revenue mode is directly proportional to rating and when it comes to YouTube, its views. It is often very difficult to satisfy both consumer and advertiser at the same time and hence the content and root idea behind it gets compromised.

     

    Subscription based model also has its own drawback, poor online payment infrastructure, lower number of credit or debit card holders are a few of them.

     

    Times Network CEO and MD MK Anand is of the opinion that though subscription model has a lot of positives, India is not yet ready for it. “Consumer behaviour is the biggest challenge besides payment gateway and card penetration. A huge part of digital savvy young population refrains from using card transactions for various reasons and hence at this moment advertisement revenue model is the only option. Going forward, if the number of card holders increase and the consumers behaviour towards e- transactions becomes friendlier then we may see a new revenue model emerging.”

     

    YouTube’s new offering will enable a consumer to either choose the ad free platform or stick to the available one. From content creators’ perspective, Ping Network co-founder Rajeshree Naik asserts, “The new innovation from YouTube will cater to the growing need of sophistication of a consumer. We can take example from the newly launched HD channels, the same content is available on the SD platform too but consumers are paying to get quality content. The innovation will help us satisfy more people with the content we are offering.”

     

    When asked if Ping Network will create fresh content exclusively for the paid platform, Naik adds, “Not at the moment. For now the platform will only provide better and uninterrupted viewing experience to the consumers. But going forward if the platform makes a sustainable impact creating exclusive content can be an option.”

     

    According to the 2014 KPMG report, 12 per cent of the digital ad spend mix is acquired by videos and the spend on digital video has increased by five per cent compared to 2013. When questioned whether the ad free platform from YouTube will impact advertising, Maxus South Asia head of digital Unny Radhakrishnan says, “There will not be any significant impact on advertising immediately. As per the news reports, YouTube has said that advertising will still be their core revenue. The share of consumers who will go for paid subscription will be very small initially. In the long run, this would perhaps lead to more investments and therefore increase in the quality of content and in turn paid subscription. An India roll-out of this is not expected in the near future.”

     

    It remains to be seen if the new initiative from YouTube breaks the mould and creates a new sustainable revenue model, which will satisfy both producers and consumers.

     

  • Mark Zuckerberg on net neutrality debate in India

    Mark Zuckerberg on net neutrality debate in India

    Over the past week in India, there has been a lot written about Internet.org and net neutrality. I’d like to share my position on these topics here for everyone to see.

     

    First, I’ll share a quick story. Last year I visited Chandauli, a small village in northern India that had just been connected to the internet.

     

    In a classroom in the village, I had the chance to talk to a group of students who were learning to use the internet. It was an incredible experience to think that right there in that room might be a student with a big idea that could change the world — and now they could actually make that happen through the internet.

     

    The internet is one of the most powerful tools for economic and social progress. It gives people access to jobs, knowledge and opportunities. It gives voice to the voiceless in our society, and it connects people with vital resources for health and education. 

     

    I believe everyone in the world deserves access to these opportunities.

     

    In many countries, however, there are big social and economic obstacles to connectivity. The internet isn’t affordable to everyone, and in many places awareness of its value remains low. Women and the poor are most likely to be excluded and further disempowered by lack of connectivity. 

     

    This is why we created Internet.org, our effort to connect the whole world. By partnering with mobile operators and governments in different countries, Internet.org offers free access in local languages to basic internet services in areas like jobs, health, education and messaging. Internet.org lowers the cost of accessing the internet and raises the awareness of the internet’s value. It helps include everyone in the world’s opportunities.

     

    We’ve made some great progress, and already more than 800 million people in 9 countries can now access free basic services through Internet.org. In India, we’ve already rolled out free basic services on the Reliance network to millions of people in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Telangana. And we just launched in Indonesia on the Indosat network today.

     

    We’re proud of this progress. But some people have criticized the concept of zero-rating that allows Internet.org to deliver free basic internet services, saying that offering some services for free goes against the spirit of net neutrality. I strongly disagree with this.

     

    We fully support net neutrality. We want to keep the internet open. Net neutrality ensures network operators don’t discriminate by limiting access to services you want to use. It’s an essential part of the open internet, and we are fully committed to it.

     

    But net neutrality is not in conflict with working to get more people connected. These two principles — universal connectivity and net neutrality — can and must coexist.

     

    To give more people access to the internet, it is useful to offer some service for free. If someone can’t afford to pay for connectivity, it is always better to have some access than none at all.

     

    Internet.org doesn’t block or throttle any other services or create fast lanes — and it never will. We’re open for all mobile operators and we’re not stopping anyone from joining. We want as many internet providers to join so as many people as possible can be connected.

     

    Arguments about net neutrality shouldn’t be used to prevent the most disadvantaged people in society from gaining access or to deprive people of opportunity. Eliminating programs that bring more people online won’t increase social inclusion or close the digital divide. It will only deprive all of us of the ideas and contributions of the two thirds of the world who are not connected.

     

    Every person in the world deserves access to the opportunities the internet provides. And we can all benefit from the perspectives, creativity and talent of the people not yet connected. 

     

    We have a historic opportunity to connect billions of more people worldwide for the first time. We should work together to make that happen now.

     

     

    (Mark Zuckerberg is the founder of Facebook.com. This article was first published on Mark Zuckerberg’s official Facebook page. The views expressed here are that of the writer and Indiantelevision.com does not necessarily subscribe to them.)

  • North-East Region Ministry gets award for best web content

    North-East Region Ministry gets award for best web content

    NEW DELHI: The Development of North East Region (DoNER) Ministry has  received the Union Information Technology Ministry Award for outstanding website content on its site http://doner.gov.in. 

     

    The award titled “Web Ratna Award 2014” under the category of outstanding content was conferred here to Minister Jitendra Singh in recognition of the exemplary efforts made by the DoNER Ministry for promoting e-governance initiatives.

     

    The website http://doner.gov.in is meant to serve as a portal on Northeast, providing information about every sector pertaining to the region as well as the current status of various projects related to tourism, flora fauna, educational institutions, universities, media and communications. In addition, it also provides information regarding demographic profile of the various States of Northeast, the socio-economic parameters and the projects undertaken directly by the DoNER Ministry or through North East Council (NEC).

     

    Complimenting the DoNER Ministry’s project team headed by Joint Secretary A.M. Singh and comprising among others Ashim Kumar Jha and P.K. Pankaj, Dr Jitendra Singh said their efforts for the last few months have not only made the DoNER Ministry more visible but also succeeded in bringing to the centre-stage, the various activities and initiatives undertaken in the Northeast. Being a far flung region with several areas remaining inaccessible or incommunicable, he said, an effective website portal will help in connecting to the people, particularly the youth, living in the remotest of the remotest areas.

     

    Singh disclosed that soon the DoNER Ministry will also have its own toll-free telephone number to make it possible for anybody interested in the Northeast to call up and obtain the desired information without having to pay for the phone call. Meanwhile, he added, a nodal officer has been earmarked to exclusively receive the phone calls from citizens and members of the civil society at telephone number 011-23022304.

     

    He added that the DoNER Ministry has started its activities on fast track both within Northeast as well as outside Northeast with the objective of showcasing Northeast to the outside world and called upon his colleagues in the Ministry to carry forward this mission with a renewed vigour and encouragement that has come in the form of the award received today. 

  • Competition Commission of India goes digital; hops on to Twitter

    Competition Commission of India goes digital; hops on to Twitter

    NEW DELHI: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has made digital in-roads by making its debut on Twitter.

     

    CCI opened its account on the popular social networking website in order to provide prompt updates to all stakeholders, including the general public, legal community, business and the media. 

     

    The move comes at a time when the Indian government is attempting to use social media to the fullest to reach target readers.

     

    CCI’s Twitter handle is @CCI_India.

     

    While short messages will be communicated through tweets whenever possible, detailed orders will continue to be available on the website of the Commission.

     

  • Narendra Modi’s tweets made available on SMS

    Narendra Modi’s tweets made available on SMS

    NEW DELHI: With increasing emphasis on social media by the present government, citizens who do not have access to internet will be able to receive the tweets sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from time to time on issues of national importance.

     

    People who want to know Modi’s views on various events can now receive his tweets through SMS on their mobile phones.

     

    A person wanting to receive the tweets will merely have to give a missed call to (011) 30063006 and the caller will start receiving these tweets.

     

    Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has written a letter to all state and district units of the party to popularize this concept.

     

    For those using the internet, the Prime Minister can also receive mails from people on either pmindia.nic.in or mygov.in.

     

    Currently, Amitabh Bachchan is one of the few whose tweets are being sent by SMS to selected mobile users.

  • IPL & Twitter launch new initiatives to enhance user experience

    IPL & Twitter launch new initiatives to enhance user experience

    MUMBAI: Continuing from their partnerships in 2013 and 2014, the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Twitter have come together for the eighth season to bring new products and experiences to enhance the cricket viewing experience for fans around the world.

     

    Cricket enthusiasts and IPL aficionados, who are online or offline, watching on any type of device or screen, those on the Twitter mobile app, desktop web to SMS will all be able to participate in the festival this year.

     

    Speaking about the partnership, IPL governing council chairman Rajiv Shukla said, “IPL has always strived to put fans first. The evolution of our partnership with Twitter means that this season will be even more accessible to fans with real-time, interactive experiences both online and offline.”

     

    Highlights of the initiatives launched are as follows:

     

    IPL Hashflags

     

    Waving the flag for your team has never been easier, as IPL will become the first sports league in the world to use hashflags on Twitter. “Hashflags are a fun and easy way to add some colour to tweets, and IPL fans on Twitter who use their favourite team’s hashtag will see that team’s flag appear after the text. The official hashtags for Hashflags are #IPL, #CSK, #DD, #KKR, #KXIP, #MI, #RCB, #RR and #SRH,” informs BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur.

     

    Missed Call to follow IPL

     

    In another global first, IPL will become the sports league that debuts the opportunity for sports fans to stay connected to their Twitter account via missed calls. Fans, who give a missed call to IPL on 011 3008 2008, will receive up to six tweets per day from @IPL that contain the hashtag #live as SMS. This service is free and will make the IPL even more accessible for fans as they can get Twitter updates from IPL even without an Internet connection.

     

    IPL Timeline 

     

    With BCCI having introduced cricket timelines on Twitter, a special IPL Timeline has been created within all of Twitter’s platforms, from iOS to Android and also twitter.com. The two distinct timelines, one each for the tournament and live games, which will give fans all they need to know, from IPL to the fans, experts to the teams. Game timelines can be found by using match specific hashtags like #KKRvMI, #CSKvDD, #KXIPvRR, #CSKvRR. Users will also be to tweet with the tournament and match hashtags from right within this timeline. For mobile, this experience is available to all users who have updated to the latest version of the Twitter app.

     

    IPL tweet-Wall-of-Fame

     

    The IPL tweet Wall of Fame will give fans an opportunity to be seen by viewers watching the IPL around the world. The IPL will select the best tweets from users tweeting with #PepsiIPL and showcase them in the live global TV broadcast of every match. Fans whose tweets are showcased on air will then receive a tweet from @IPL with the screenshot of their tweet going on live TV. These tweets will also be featured on a dedicated IPL tweet-Wall-of-Fame page on iplt20.com

     

    IPL Q&As on Periscope

     

    Innovating with live mobile video broadcast, IPL will also take fans behind-the-scenes like never before with surprise, real-time Q&As. Fans on iOS will be able to watch and type in questions to their favourite players and commentators as they engage with them from the IPL Periscope account.

     

    IPL #OrangeCap and #PurpleCap

     

    In the latest season of the IPL, fans will also have the opportunity to tweet and create their own #PurpleCap and #OrangeCap leaderboards by using #PepsiIPL and #<Player’s last name> or his Twitter handle. The results will be displayed in real-time on a special leaderboard in the IPL on Twitter section of iplt20.com from the end of Week 1 to the end of the season.

     

    Twitter India and Southeast Asia market director Rishi Jaitly said, “The IPL has led the way with cutting edge innovations and we are thrilled that they are giving Twitter users the opportunity to consume and engage with such premium content and content participation experiences again this season. It is a reflection of their commitment to reach and engage a mobile, global fanbase across all screens and devices.”

  • Star Sports India tops Twitter brand index for World Cup 2015

    Star Sports India tops Twitter brand index for World Cup 2015

    MUMBAI: Star India’s sports venture Star Sports sustained its reach on social media platform to gain the pole position on the Twitter brand index for Cricket World Cup 2015. Star Sports was followed by HDFC Life and Alto K10 in the second and third position respectively.

     

    Twitter brand index for ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

     

    Star Sports 

     

    Star Sports has consistently been featured amongst the top conversations on CWC15 with its popular video series that started with the India vs Pakistan group game. Every India victory in the competition meant a new video for the upcoming game. Using the viral hashtag #MaukaMauka that spawned its own memes and tribute versions, the campaign managed to capture the imagination of Indian cricket fans. Over and above this thematic campaign, Star Sports continued to connect with fans over its hashtag #WontGiveItBack – People could tweet to the handle with the hashtag and get the schedule of the matches in the cup.

     

    HDFC Life

     

    HDFC Life brought the Indian cricket fan together with the hashtag #MyTeamMyPride. Under the aegis of the hashtag the brand engaged with fans on predictions, contests and general comments around the game. Users loved the hashtag and used it as one of the top rallying cries this CWC15.

     

    Alto K10

     

    Alto K10 is one of the few car brands that used CWC15 to talk to its target group. With a creative spin on their brand tagline Chase Life, Alto has engaged the Indian cricket fan under its chase campaigns across the hashtags #ChaseCricket and #ChaseMaster. They ran a popular Sorry Sir contest where they invited people to tweet back to them with funny ideas for ways to skip college or office and watch India games. Using topical caricatures, contests and celebrating the team’s victory with fans Alto K10 got people to send them their selfies in blue to show support to the team – Chaselife. They were able to successfully take things that fans enjoy and blend their brand into that conversation.

     

    Nike Cricket

     

    A part of the #BleedBlue campaign – Nike created a chant (BleedBlue), which has been reverberating amongst supporters of the Indian cricket team since 2011. This has become the war cry of the Indian fan and this World Cup, Nike shared BleedBlue stories of fan and celebrities alike. As a part of the BleedBlue campaign, the official apparel manufacturer of the Indian cricket team also sent out personalised jerseys to sports stars, celebrities and other members of the sports fraternity. This helped the personalities show their loyalty using the hashtag BleedBlue. The most retweeted advertiser tweet of the CWC was the tweet that they sent out on the day of the semi-finals – asking people to show their support to the team by RT-ing the tweet.

     

    Lays India

     

    Lays climbed the chart by rallying the cricket fan on Twitter with the hashtags #LaysKePlays and #TicketKaGame contest. Winners of the contest were given the opportunity to watch the finals of the CWC15 live in Australia. They asked people to tweet with the hasthtag #TicketKaGame to reveal what the contest was going to be. The more the tweets, the faster was the reveal. #LaysKePlays asked users to tweet back to the handle with creative uses of cricket lingo and make it relevant to Lays.

     

    Lava Mobile

     

    Lava ran a prediction contest with goodies to be won. Technology brands and contests seemed to be a potent mix on Twitter and users loved it. They tied this in with a brand campaign around their X8 handset. The hashtag they used was #X8HighPerformer. It was a smart way to build the X8’s positioning on performance basis strong performances in the matches.

     

    Castrol Cricket

     

    Castrol followed, what in hindsight, seems like the winning model of a good hashtag, a contest and good content. They entered with the hashtag – #ClingOnToTheCup. Their biggest execution this CWC was when they asked people to tweet to them with their pictures and they would put those pictures up on the digital fence at the stadium during the game. Fans loved the idea of being able to become a part of the game in this manner.

     

    Axis Bank

     

    Axis Bank built engagement around cricketing rituals. Given the level of fanatical support for the game and the national team, people tweeted about how they do not take bath before games, drink water during games or leave their seats when a particular player is on a roll. Axis Bank used this insight to great effect by inviting people to share their rituals. They sustained engagement by continuing activity on Twitter beyond just match days to an Always On Strategy.

     

    Score With Data

     

    The Indian cricket fan loves data and statistics. IBM latched on to this insight and created this handle to share powerful data led insights through the CWC. People followed this account for live insights on players as the game progressed.

     

    Dairy Milk

     

    Dairy Milk was another brand that used contests very well. People joined in on the contest FansOfJoy where they were asked to WhatsApp their #FansOfJoy pics to grab their moment of fame in leading dailies. Apart from this there was a quiz where people stood to win Cadbury Dairy Milk hampers.

     

    Club Mahindra

     

    Club Mahindra was able to find creative ways to integrate stories from their resorts into the game. They put the Mandala from their logo to great use with tweets around the toss, when Virat Kohli was hitting 4s and 6s and when he reached his 100. When there was a great catch on the pitch they were ready with a tweet that showed someone catching a fish at one of their resorts and drew parallels of what a great catch looked like at Club Mahindra.

     

  • Facebook accounts for three-quarters of global social network ad spend

    Facebook accounts for three-quarters of global social network ad spend

    MUMBAI: Boosted by solid growth in usage and advertising spend across major social networks, the global social network market continued to show strong growth in 2014, as per Strategy Analytics Global Social Network Forecast. Globally, social networks surpassed two billion users for the first time in 2014, of which Facebook accounted for 68 per cent.

     

    Ad spend on social networks grew a robust 41 per cent globally in 2014 totaling over $15.3 billion, accounting for 11 per cent of global digital ad spend. Facebook accounted for three-quarters of global social network ad spend in 2014, while Twitter accounted for eight per cent. In 2015, ad spend on social networks is expected to grow by 29 per cent, totaling $24.2 billion.

     

    “Overall, the social network market continues to show strong growth across all regions as the major social network platforms drive usage and engagement via improved integration of digital media content. While Facebook currently dominates the global social network market, its absence in China allows local social networks such as QZone and Tencent Weibo to gain traction in the rapidly expanding Chinese digital advertising market,” said Leika Kawasaki, author of the report.

     

    Other key findings from the report include:

     

    1) Nearly half (46 per cent) of social network users reside in the Asia Pacific region.

     

    2) China accounts for almost 25 per cent of global social network users with 495 million users in 2014.

     

    3) North America had the highest ratio of social network users to its population (64 per cent) in 2014, followed by Western Europe at 55 per cent.

     

    4) The US accounts for the largest share of global social network ad spend (41 per cent), totaling $6.2 billion in 2014, up 35 per cent YoY.

     

    5) The UK is the second largest market for social network ad spends, accounting for 8.2 per cent of global social network ad spends in 2014, just edging out China (8 per cent).

     

    6) The US had the highest social network ad spend per social network user at $31.37 in 2014. This is expected to grow 27 per cent to $39.84 in 2015.