FIFA World Cup 2014: The buzz gets big on social media

In the first week of the FIFA World Cup 2014 (June 12-18) Twitter, as a social platform to broadcast trends and information, emerged numero uno.

FIFA World Cup 2014 witnessed an overwhelming response on social media as it garnered over 4.75 lakh mentions in its first week of launch.

As per Maxus Insights' Social Media Statistics, in India, the Social Buzz volumes were highest across late evening (8 pm to 11.59 pm) and early morning hours (midnight to 3.59 am). These time stamps reflected that in the general entertainment channels (GEC)-dominant households, football enthusiasts were consuming live match streams during prime time and this consumption stretched on to odd hours.

"This gives an indication of the dual screen or multi-screen scenario and an opportunity for marketers to harness this evolving consumption pattern," the agency said. According to the stats, a moderate yet a significant amount of social buzz volumes were tracked across noon or mid-day hours. "Delving into the social buzz, we figured that a sizeable amount of audience followed Match Highlights and some even record odd-hour matches to view it later during the day. With the convergence of multiple mediums and formats of feed, the line between online and on-TV viewership seems to be blurring," the agency mentioned.

During the week, there were high-interest matches like Brazil vs Croatia, Spain vs Netherlands and Germany vs Portugal. Neymar, the Brazilian forward, emerged as a popular player among enthusiasts in the country. Looking at the match trends and Hashtag (#) associations, it was evident that certain teams, players and brands have higher equity in the tournament across all the participants.

Besides, the official Facebook Page of FIFA World Cup 2014 garnered response with fan base growth of 36 per cent and a conversing rate of 28 per cent during the week under study. The data also revealed that the most engaged nation on the page was India, followed by Indonesia at No.2 and the US at No.3. Beyond the FIFA World Cup, some of flourishing Facebook brand pages from India were: Nokia India (1,20,000+ new likes), XOLO Mobiles (1,06,000+ new likes), Reliance Industries (1,50,000+ new likes), Sunsilk (4,00,000+ new likes) and Aircel India (1,20,000+ new likes).