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Be a top player this cricket season: Score with key trends and marketing strategies

by

April 10, 2025
A cricket batsman in white uniform and helmet is executing a front-foot drive shot, while a wicketkeeper in a crouched position, also in white uniform and helmet, is ready to catch the ball. The scene takes place in a packed stadium with a large crowd in the background.

Why is the cricket season an international festival of great magnitude? As the world’s second-most popular sport, cricket has 2.5 billion cricket fans1 across the globe - that is over a quarter of the world’s population! The frenzy is particularly high during major tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL), which saw 620 million viewers2 tune in via the official OTT platform. While watching, fans remain actively engaged on digital platforms – searching, consuming content, and shopping.

But amid this surge in engagement comes intense competition. So, what can marketers do to elevate their advertising game? Microsoft Advertising and InMobi Advertising present a cricket season report packed with the hottest consumer behavior trends across verticals from IPL 2024 and full-funnel marketing strategies. Read on to dive into a few highlights from this resource and discover three types of cricket fans.

The score for searches: A view of the great surge

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Increase in clicks and searches during the IPL tournament in 2024, highlighting key opportunities for brands with a 44% surge in searches and clicks.

IPL 2024 saw massive spikes in searches and clicks during the tournament months. Both rose by 44% from February to March, which was the month the tournament began.

Direct categories saw massive search upticks.

  • Sporting Goods witnessed a 26% increase.
  • Sports News and Media and Sport and Fitness Apparel searches rose by 22%.

Additionally, the search trends across verticals point at three interesting types of cricket fans. Let us learn all about them and what they seek.

The three types of cricket enthusiasts: Your spectators

  • The health hustlers:
    These fans are inspired to get in shape as the season kicks off. We witnessed a massive growth in fitness and health-related searches around the tournament.
    > Nutrition and diet observed a 307% spike in searches. 
    > Swimming and yoga classes grew in popularity with a 284% and 262% lift in searches respectively.
  • The game night hosts:
    With watch parties being planned at home, these cricket enthusiasts focus on both binge-watching and binging! With these fans, we witnessed search surges in food and grocery delivery and home furnishing: 
    > Juices were a popular category, with searches growing by 25%. 
    > A leading quick-commerce app observed a 19% search surge.
    > Chairs witnessed a 79% growth in searches. 
    > Other furniture items like beds and tables saw search lifts of 68% and 27%. 
     
  • The TV and streaming buffs:
    In-home entertainment and satellite TV subscriptions were in high demand as fans planned to watch matches at home. 
    >The official OTT platform for the IPL saw a 159% growth in searches. 
    > Satellite TV subscriptions grew nearly 120% during this time. 
    > A popular streaming platform witnessed a 45% lift in searches. 
     

The game plan: Ways to capitalize on seasonal surges

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Strategic campaign framework for customer engagement, outlining awareness, consideration, conversion, and re-engagement phases using Performance Max, Audience Ads, Search Ads, and Shopping Campaigns.

The game of marketing has a lot in common with the game of cricket. To win, you need a strong strategy, perfect timing, and a plan to cover the field. Here is what this looks like:

  1. Having a solid strategy: Based on category trends

    A sure way to maximize visibility among cricket fans? Using cricket-related terms and visuals while leveraging the popular categories of the season in your campaign plan. Using tools like the Keyword Planner can help with that. 

  2. Getting the timing right: At key moments 
    Starting right before the season as cricket enthusiasts plan their activities is a great idea. Plan your budgets and efforts accordingly, and keep interest high all through the season by leveraging important match days throughout the tournament.

  3. Covering the field: With an omnichannel approach​ 
    To score across the funnel, you need diverse placements across multiple platforms that fans use in their digital journey every day for work or life. By embracing these channels with Microsoft Advertising, you can connect with cricket lovers as they live their digital lives – from when they plan their experiences on the Microsoft Copilot chatbot to while they network on LinkedIn or catch up on work with Microsoft Outlook.

Be a part of cricket lovers’ lives this season: That is bound to bring your brand or product to the top of the leaderboard. For more game-changing insights into cricket fans and marketing strategies to win them over, download your copy of the report, Digital marketing trends for the cricket season 2025.

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