This document analyzes the social media strategies of 40 brands that sponsored or advertised for Season 4 of the Pro Kabaddi League in India. The key findings were: - Facebook generated more user engagement than other platforms, though Twitter was used most for sharing content. - Over half of advertisers did not focus on creating video content, with only 45% creating videos. - State Bank of India performed best across engagement metrics by actively engaging with users and sharing content. - Lesser known brands like TT Garments outperformed bigger brands like Airtel in social media performance.

1. A Quantitative Social Media Analysis
of Season 4 AdvertisersPro Kabbadi
by

2. Brands Tracked

3. INTRODUCTION
Pro-Kabaddi league (PKL) was played for the second time this year. This is the first time ever in India that a professional sports
league got two seasons within a year.
Pro-Kabbadi launch was not as grand as IPL's. But in over four editions, it has made its mark into the audience's mind. People
know who Anup Kumar, Rakesh Kumar, and Manjit Chillar is. Rahul Chaudhary has entered into mainstream and so have
overseas superstars including Fazel Atracheli from Iran and Jang Kun Lee from South Korea.
Success of Pro Kabaddi League is evident from the way its sponsors have grown over four editions. Compared to 9 sponsors in
season 3, there were 12 on-air and on-ground sponsors. Many popular brands joined PKL in season 4 including Airtel, Nestle
Munch, Bisleri, Castrol, Britannia, Bajaj Electricals, and even SBI.
PKL season four saw a 51% rise in viewership on a cumulative basis. But are the event and team sponsors making most of it on
social media?
In this report, we tracked 40 brands including team sponsors using in-house tools to see how they are using social media to tap
the viewership growth of Pro Kabbadi League.
Key Takeaways
Ÿ Facebook generated more engagement per content throughout the tournament
Ÿ More than half of the advertisers are not still not focusing on creating video content. Only 45% of all the PKL advertisers
created video content.
Ÿ Google+ is the most ignored social media platform by the advertisers followed by YouTube.
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4. Channel share in company activity
97.29%
62.16%
24.32%
8%
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
G+
Social media engagement
82.72
17.06
0.2
~0.00
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
G+
Use of Social Media
Twitter, with its microblogging outlook, is still the
most popular among the companies when sharing
content.
Of all the content, 59.9% was shared on Twitter,
36.2% on Facebook, and Google+ saw almost
negligible use throughout the tournament.
Channel share in content
Twitter
FB
YouTube
Google+36.2%
59.6%
Pg 2

5. However, Facebook saw the most engagement among all the platforms which might have been triggered by paid promotions.
Twitter and YouTube had an average engagement of 17.06 and 0.2 while it seems users have deserted Google+ for connecting
with brands.
Market share by content
47.7%52.3%
Market share by active companies
62.5%37.5%
FacebookYouTube
Social MediaPg 3

6. Top 5 video content uploaders of Youtube
Bajaj Electronics Un limited Store
Gionee
Big Bazaar
Modasta
Others
12.1%
12.1%
22.2%
9%
9%
35.5%
Top 5 video content uploaders of Facebook
Airtel
Amazon
33.7%
10.1%
18%
18%
20%
Of all the PKL sponsors and advertisers 97.29% companies were active on Facebook. Twitter was the second choice for
companies with 62.16% using it while YouTube and Google+ were used by 24.32% and 8% companies respectively.
Nestle Munch
Gionee
Others
Social MediaPg 4

7. Indian brands posted more video content on Facebook than on YouTube—a striking fact considering the dominance of
YouTube in video content. While 99 videos were shared throughout the tournament, YouTube saw 89 video uploads by
brands—a far cry from expected figures considering YouTube’s reputation as video sharing platform.
It is also nice to observe that most popular companies are more active on YouTube. The 89 YouTube videos came from only 9
companies. The top four brands created 82% of the YouTube content. On the other hand, on Facebook, 15 companies made 99
videos and the top spot players created only 55.4% of the total videos.
Big Bazaar is leading on video engagement table with a total engagement of 56,428 on their videos. The grandmaster in video
content, Amazon, stood on the fifth spot behind Gionee, SBI, and even Modasta. It was also good to find Havmor and Ibis
creating video content.
Video Content Engagement
Big Bazaar
Gionee
SBI
Modasta
Amazon
Airtel
Havmor
56428
12752
11754
8992
5820
4064
1468
Top 7 Brands by Video Content
YouTubeFacebook
Pg 5

8. Scoring Methodology
While advertisers registered 57 hours of TV advertising during PKL season 4, it was a great opportunity to tap audience
organically on social media. We were also astonished to find that many brands had no Twitter or YouTube profile and many had
profiles which were abandoned “centuries” ago.
To make our analysis, quantitative, we used in-house tools to track the social media profiles of 40 brands who were either
official PKL sponsor, sponsor of a team franchise, or an advertiser.
x1
Evaluation criteria
Brand engagement Brand activity Replies to Users
x2 x1x1
Pg 6
Winner

9. It must be obvious to you as a seasoned businessmen and entrepreneur that The Banker to Every Indian, State Bank of India,
leads in brand engagement. They topped the brand engagement table with a total engagement of 359,829.
At the same time, Himalaya Men beating more popular brands including Airtel and Amazon who revel in their customer service
quality. Himalaya Men stood third on the brand engagement table with a total engagement of 239,550.
Brand Engagement
SBI
Gionee
Himalaya men
Airtel
Modasta
Havmor
Manforce
3,59,829
3,30,159
2,39,550
1,38,358
1,37,152
1,34,390
1,09,535
Top 7 Brands by Total Engagement
(likes + share + comments + favorites + retweets)
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10. Engagements were also analysed by specific engagement type. The three engagement types measured were:
Ÿ Applause, representing favourable responses and including metrics such as likes and favourites,
Ÿ Conversation, representing consumer responses and including metrics such as comments and replies,
Ÿ Amplification, representing brand advocacy and including metrics such as shares and retweets.
Top brands by Engagement type
23,365
17,109
7,753
6,448
4,524
4,246
4,113
Top 7 Brands by AmplificationTop 7 Brands by Appluase
(shares + retweets)
Top 7 Brands by Conversation
SBI
Himalaya Men
Gionee
Amazon
Castrol active
Paryag
Modasta
5,119
4,258
2,732
2,432
1,763
1,663
1,643
(comments + replies)
SBI
Gionee
Himalaya Men
Airtel
Modasta
Havmor
Manforce
SBI
Telegraph
Karvy
Paryag
Bajaj
Modasta
Himalaya Men
3,31,345
3,23,903
2,31,179
1,34,486
1,31,263
1,29,492
1,05,240
(likes + favorites)
Pg 8 Brand Engagement

11. Oh! Did we mention the renowned Calcutta daily, Telegraph, was also a sponsor for the event? They were—thanks to the
opportunity laid by Kolkata Warriors! Telegraph topped and outperformed other in the brand activity chart with Twitter being its
favourite channel.
The consumer products brands used a mixture of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to roll out the messages. Among the top 7 in
brand activity table, YouTube activity came only from SBI and Gionee.
Most companies are hyper active on Twitter while Facebook is their second destination to roll out content.
Brand activity
Telegraph
Havmor
Manforce
MOdasta
SBI
Gionee
Karvy
615
275
270
255
247
243
196
Top 7 Brands by Brand Activity
TwitterFB YoutubeGoogle
Pg 9

12. If you look at this data, SBI justifies its another tagline “With you all the way”. With 2,844 replies to Twitter users, SBI left behind
its nearest social media rival, Karbon Phones, by a big margin who replied only 243 times during the tournament.
While very few of the brands behind in the table would pick up a customer care call, it seems they haven’t learned yet to use
Twitter as a customer care platform.
2,844
243
234
107
82
64
50
SBI
Karbon sphones
Amazon
Gionee
Havmor
Nestle Maggie
Bajaj
Top 7 Brands by Twitter Replies to Customers
(No. of twitter replies)
Twitter Replies to Users
Pg 10

13. x1Brand engagementKey Brand activity Replies to customers
Pg 11
Top 7
#1
#2
#3
#4 #5
#6
#7

14. Conclusion
PKL Season 4 shows some unusual insights into companies behaviour on social media during sports
tournaments and events.
Facebook is still the favourite among most companies. They are active on the most popular social media
profile and even reaping benefits by leaving social footprints. Twitter is still the most popular social media
platform during game time. It is easiest to use out short and crisp message during game action.
While major brands like Airtel, SBI, and Amazon were on-board, comparatively lesser known brands were able
to outperform many on social media. For instance, TT Garments were ahead of TVS Tyres, Big Bazaar, Good
Day, and many others. Similarly, the Calcutta Daily, Telegraph, were ahead of Airtel, Nestle Maggie, and Bajaj
Electricals. It might be due to their products’ and Kabbadi’s local appeal. But the bottom line is they got the
most out of the sponsorships at the end of the day.
On the other hand, brands like Force Motors, Prayag, Fogg, and Omtex Sports completely failed to make
anything out of their sponsorships.
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