Interactive Avenues releases ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 social listening report

The comprehensive report breaks down the digital noise of CWC '23 with 44.6 million social media mentions.

Interactive Avenues, a digital marketing agency and the digital arm of IPG Mediabrands India, has released Smashing Records, Winning Hearts: A Social Listening Report on #CWC23, which delves into the digital conversation landscape surrounding the ICC Men’s cricket tournament. 

The report is based on data gathered from social platforms such as X, Reddit and popular cricket forums, revealing insights on player popularity, most appreciated performances, most talked about matches, biggest moments, top brand partnerships and more.

Commenting on the report, 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 metrics around player influence, match fever, emerging talent, brand engagement, audience sentiments etc.”  

Here are some key findings and highlights from the report-

The tournament garnered 44.6 Mn mentions and drove 476 Mn engagements. Virat Kohli emerged as the most talked player and batsman along with Mohammed Shami as the most popular bowler and Glen Maxwell as the top all-rounder. The most discussed match was India vs. Pakistan, followed by the final match of India vs. Australia.

Kohli completing 50 centuries in ODI matches and Maxwell making double centuries in an ODI chase were the most talked about records. Shami’s best ODI bowling figure by an Indian and fastest-ever to 50 wickets in the world also drove high traffic.

The most popular players were Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Babar Azam, Mohammad Shami and KL Rahul. Followed by Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj and Rachin Ravindra as emerging players.

The top controversies include Angelo Mathews becoming the first international cricketer to be ‘timed out’ during the Bangladesh vs. Sri Lanka match. A policeman at Chinnaswamy stadium stopping a Pakistani fan from raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans and Pakistan not qualifying for the semi-finals due to a debatable LBW decision in their match against South Africa.

Brands across diverse industries like Coca-Cola, Mastercard, Nissan, Mondelez and Bira leveraged CWC-based partnerships to drive engagement. Royal Stag witnessed an increase in its average monthly engagement and IndusInd’s #CheerForGreatness campaign drove a remarkable spike in average monthly engagement.