Pepsi dominates social media conversations during IPL6

Pepsi dominates social media conversations during IPL6

MUMBAI: Pepsi‘s aggressive Rs 1.5 billion marketing pitch around the Indian Premier League (IPL) seems to be paying rich dividends. The food and beverage major is not only scoring over other IPL sponsors and advertisers on-ground and television but also on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

According to MEC-GroupM IPL6 Social Media Update report, Pepsi leads the conversations with 93 per cent share primarily driven by #PepsiIPL on Twitter.

In terms of chatter around TV commercials of sponsors, Pepsi‘s Ranbir Kapoor and Oh Yes Abhi ads dominate with 62 per cent share of conversations. Vodafone‘s Zoo zoos follow with 22 per cent while Godrej (Aamir Khan) and Samsung are distant third and fourth at 4.3 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively.

Powered by GroupM‘s Social Hub, the weekly update will present analysis of the social chatter around the IPL. The study covers the complete spectrum of social media - Twitter, Facebook, blogs and message boards.

MEC India MD T Gangadhar said, "Multi-screen engagement is a reality today and social media chatter is a terrific indication of how invested we are in premier TV events like the IPL. This study throws up interesting insights with regard to teams, players and brands and can be enormously useful for advertisers seeking to ride the IPL wave."

When it comes to IPL franchises, Mumbai Indians dominate the conversations with a 22 per cent share of buzz, followed by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with 19 per cent. IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders has just 5 per cent share of the conversations on Twitter.

When it comes to player buzz, CSK skipper MS Dhoni leads the popularity chart with 22 per cent share. Three out of the top five most discussed are foreign players Kieron Pollard (15 per cent), Chris Gayle (11 per cent) and Dale Steyn (9 per cent).

At fourth position is Rajasthan Royals skipper Rahul Dravid with 10 per cent share followed by Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar with a 7 per cent share.

The report says that the IPL 6 got off to a tepid start on until the CSK Vs MI which just 43 per cent of IPL chatter that week (April 2 to April 7) happened on the day of the CSK-MI game.

MEC national director - Social Media and Insights Karthik Nagarajan said, "In India, prime-time television is becoming prime time for social media as well - with sports, news and reality television driving maximum chatter during ‘air time‘. Nothing demonstrates this more than IPL6, where platforms like Twitter and FB are becoming conversation capital and virtual stadiums during the game. The opportunities for advertisers to join these conversations organically are priceless."