With the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to be held between October 17 to November 14, Facebook claims to have packed a punch with a suit of offering. As part of its multi-year clip deal with International Cricket Council (ICC), Facebook will provide its users with original cricket content produced by ICC. Further, the social media giant is partnering with over 100 influencers to promote the sport along with launching a separate tab for cricket under Facebook Watch. “In India, cricket is not a sporting event but a social event and Facebook is where the fans play. The core behaviour during matches is to look at social media because that is where the fans are in conversation with their friends on Facebook and community on Instagram. Our aim is to take the whole cricket excitement much further for fans,” Sandeep Bhushan, director and head, global marketing solutions, Facebook India told BrandWagon Online.

With 1.25 billion users monthly across the globe, Facebook claims that this is an opportunity for brands to engage with cricket fans. “80% of new brands get discovered on Facebook. Whether you are a large brand or a small company, with the global reach and right targeting and create very efficient interaction when it comes to brand building,” Bhushan stated. During ICC T20 World Cup, brands can choose to advertise either on in-stream reserve- where the platform runs its long-form video ads or opt to partner with influencers. As per industry stakeholders, Facebook will see 10-15% jump in the overall revenue from this association. For link clicks run ad campaigns targeting 18-25 All India Urban Male (cricket watchers), Facebook’s ad rate will be Rs 1,000 per day providing 130,000,000, with an average estimated reach of 29,000-85,000 daily.

Facebook Watch will host over 4,200 minutes of ICC content comprising match preview such as toss, pitch report, venue feature; hourly in-match moments and 5-10 minutes long post match highlights. The platform has also brought cricket experts such as Aakash Chopra, Virendra Sehwag, among others, on board for behind-the-scenes clips. The platform will also show over 10,000 minutes of influencer content around cricket.

As per ICC, the India vs New Zealand final in Southampton in June 2021 was the most-watched across all series that were part of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (WTC). Facebook provided most of the consumption across ICC digital assets with 423 million views and 368 million minutes consumed on the ICC Page. Further, the recently concluded Olympics and the Paralympics saw the highest number of conversations on Facebook from India, said Bhushan.

In 2019, Facebook announced a four-year deal with the ICC as its exclusive digital content rights partner for short clips in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

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