Maxus releases social media trends around FIFA World Cup 2014

In light of the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Maxus Insights team, in partnership with Radian6 have put together and released weekly roundup of Social Media Statistics and Insights around the ongoing FIFA World Cup. All the data and analysis is India specific only.

Some of the topline facts were -

• FIFA World Cup 2014 seems not only an interesting contest between countries, matches, teams and players but also a contest of audience viewership and engagement numbers. This quadrennial edition of the beautiful game is slated to reach 100 million viewers in the country and burgeoning social buzz builds the testimony for it. The inaugural week of the game garnered a cumulative social conversation buzz of approx 4.75 Lakh plus mentions, with Twitter emerging as a Numero uno social platform to broadcast, trend & share information. (Estimation based on trackable sources).

• Interestingly, The Social Buzz volumes were highest across late evening (2000-2359) and early morning hours (0000-0359). These time stamps reflected that in GEC dominant households’ football enthusiasts were consuming live match streams during the prime time band and this consumption stretched onto 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.

• 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 in day time. With convergence of multiple mediums and formats of feed, the line between online & on-tv viewership seems to be blurring.

• During the week, highly engaging & conversing matches were Brazil vs Croatia, Spain vs Netherlands and Germany vs Portugal. Neymar, the Brazilian forward striker emerged as a popular and resonating player among FIFA enthusiasts in the country. Looking at the Match trends & Hashtags (#) associations, it is evident that certain teams, players and brands have higher equity in the tournament across all the participants. A point crucial for marketers focusing on Football advertising & looking forward to execute mid-course strategy corrections.

• The official Facebook Handle of FIFA World Cup 2014 garnered overwhelming response with fan base growth of approx 36% & conversing rate of 28% during the tracked week. Above all number the most engaged nation on the page was India followed by Indonesia on number 2 and United States on number 3.  Beyond the FIFA World Cup, some of flourishing Facebook brand pages from India were:  Nokia India (+ 120k New likes), XOLO Mobiles (+106K New likes), Reliance Industries (+150K New likes), Sunsilk (+400K New likes), Aircel India (+120k New likes), etc.