Tharoor, Modi overshadow cricketers in online buzz: Nielsen

Tharoor, Modi overshadow cricketers in online buzz: Nielsen

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a format that changed the way cricket was viewed by many, so it does not come as a surprise when online social media goes buzzing about it.

Now with the League coming to a close, it is interesting to see how the buzz has shifted amongst teams and players in the past one month. The analysis has been undertaken by Nielsen using Nielsen Online BuzzMetrics, which measured online posts in message boards, blogs, discussion groups and micro blogs (Twitter) across all cricket following countries. 
 
In the last two weeks, the focus of social media users has shifted from cricket, and they have discussed Shashi Tharoor and Lalit Modi even more than the two most discussed players online- Tendulkar and Dhoni. The sentiments were negative for both Tharoor and Modi initially. However, in the last couple of days brand Tharoor seems to have recovered marginally, while Modi continues to be perceived negatively in social media.

At the beginning of the League, Kolkata Knight Riders were the most discussed team online, but as the season comes to a close Mumbai Indians have gone ahead of Kolkata Knight Riders in online buzz. Deccan Chargers is the third highest discussed team, followed by Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore at fourth and fifth spot respectively.

Amongst players, Ricky Ponting, who was the most discussed player online prior to the League has been replaced by Sachin Tendulkar in the current season. Sachin is followed by M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Shane Warne and Rahul Dravid.
 
Nielsen Online associate director Karthik Nagarajan says, "Contrary to our hypothesis, it seems that on field performance does matter when it comes to online buzz volume. Discussions revolving around Mumbai Indians, Sachin, and Dhoni are a clear indication of the same. Having said that, the controversy between Tharoor and Modi is so dominant that even players like Sachin and Dhoni have been overshadowed by it despite their performance."