The Indian Premier League team Chennai Super Kings has emerged as the top team in terms of ‘fandom’. While Mumbai Indians was the second favourite, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) came a distant third in the list at the close of the 16th season of the cricketing event, according to a new report by Rediffusion’s Red Lab that tracks consumer behaviour.
The company said it tracked and analysed fan involvement of all teams over the past two months, interviewing, meeting and interacting with about 1,200 fans of all the ten teams that played in the tournament.
This year’s winning team CSK scored 79% while MI were at 72%. RCB lagged at 61%. Of the new teams, Gujarat Titans had a 58% score in fifth place, just a notch behind Kolkata Knight Riders which scored 59%. Sunrisers Hyderabad (32%) were the least liked teams in the rankings and Delhi Capitals at 37%.
“The IPL has been around for 16 years now and sufficient time has elapsed for choices to be made, loyalty to be shaped and for fans to either love a team or be indifferent to it,” says Sandeep Goyal, managing director of the company.
About 42% of CSK’s fan base is from outside of Chennai. So, loyalty is not driven by city or geographical affiliation or residence alone.
About 72% of fans attribute their affinity and preference for CSK to MS Dhoni. Rohit Sharma at MI is lower at 23% but Virat Kohli scored better at 51% for RCB.It said that its ‘fandom’ is calculated first by someone who identifies as liking a team. Keeping track of the favourite team’s scores or performance is the first stage of belongingness. Watching the team matches on television or staying abreast with its live play on digital is the next layer. It said that the other yardsticks were that the team and its players were in conversations with family and friends and buying merchandise and going to the stadium to watch the matches were other indicators.
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Updated: 02 Jun 2023, 02:49 PM IST
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