Second-screen supremacy: YouTube's answer to IPL's cluttered ad landscape

In an era where sports consumption is rapidly evolving, cricket—India's beloved pastime—is finding audiences even beyond the boundaries of the field. No longer confined to the traditional limits of live broadcasting, cricket fandom has expanded into a vibrant, always-on digital ecosystem where the game never truly ends.

In a conversation with afaqs!, Shubha Pai, head of YouTube Sales and Solutions in India, shares insights into this paradigm shift, revealing how cricket has transcended from mere sport to a comprehensive cultural phenomenon that thrives on YouTube's platform.

"Cricket is very simple. It is as much a beloved sport as it is a feeling," Pai articulates. "A lot has changed in the last few years, yet some things have remained the same. Cricket is still about that feeling—that community, that sharing. You can't imagine cricket without this."

This sentiment encapsulates the essence of cricket's digital metamorphosis, where fans are not merely passive viewers but active participants in a continuous cricket narrative.

The three C's of cricket content

According to Pai, cricket on YouTube operates through what she terms the "three C's". "There is an evolving conversation, which is driven by culture. It's, of course, amplified by creators, and it is powered by the community," she says.

This framework has revolutionised how cricket content is consumed, created, and monetised.

The numbers paint a compelling picture: "During IPL 2024, fans actually spent 20% more time on non-live content, showing a very clear shift to on-demand viewing and deeper engagement," Pai reveals.

Cricket-related content on YouTube has garnered "more than 50 billion views in just the last 12 months", with search interest growing exponentially over the last four years.

This growth is unsurprising when contextualised. As per the findings of SmithGieger study conducted in India, 95% of users (aged 14-44) who identify as fans use YouTube to consume content about some person or something that they are a fan of at least weekly. For cricket specifically, 67% actually watch sports content on YouTube and YouTube Shorts, making it the most used digital channel, as per Pai.

What is driving this consumption on YouTube are interactive features that make the content more engaging. "Cricket on YouTube is interactive. There are live chats, there are polls, and there are watch parties, which turn this passive viewing experience into a very immersive, community-driven experience," Pai explains.

"It's also the birthplace of a lot of cricket memes, a lot of parodies, a lot of post-match banter. And this is what fuels virality; that shared excitement just gets carried forward. And fans don't just consume content. They shape the cricket narrative. There are reaction videos, and they do this through deep-dive analysis, and do-it-yourself sports journalism," she adds.

And drivers of this ecosystem are cricket creators—or, as Pai refers to them, “Crictubers".

"Whether it is breaking matches down in regional languages, engaging niche fan communities, or turning on-field moments into viral trends, creators make the sports a lot more accessible and engaging for everyone," Pai notes, before adding her personal reflection: "And if you ask me, I feel like the game may end, but the fandom on YouTube never does."

IPL ad clutter and second-screen behaviour

For brands, the traditional live broadcast advertising model has become increasingly cluttered and ineffective. Hundreds of brands flood the ad breaks with their short, seconds-long ads in a mix of competitors, making the job of standing out that bit more difficult.

"How many ads do you remember from last year's IPL? There were close to 1400 brands that advertised... And yet an average viewer may recall only three to five brands," Pai concurs. 

This challenge is further complicated by the prevalent second-screen behaviour. 90% of cricket fans and 93% of Gen Z are actually active on another screen while watching live sports, as per Pai.

And Gen Z in particular is juggling an average of three activities in relation to watching a match. They could be ordering food, they could be checking match stats, and they could be scrolling social media.

“With approximately 600 ad creatives last year, about two were longer than 30 seconds. Within this context, brands struggle to effectively communicate their message in this fragmented attention economy.”

In comes YouTube

YouTube's diverse content formats offer brands a compelling alternative to traditional cricket advertising.

"On YouTube, between the long-form and the short-form videos, the small screen and the connected TV, the choice of formats for different marketing objectives that advertisers have, and the AI underpinning it all— makes for a powerful proposition for brands trying to reach out to their audiences," Pai says.

Sharing an example of how brands are leveraging the power of supplementary cricket content on YouTube, Pai reveals Swiggy’s journey with the platform.

"Swiggy knows that Indians are watching sports on two devices, and there is a lot of overlap between the cricket viewers and the grocery customers. So, it decided to show up for that audience group on YouTube– before, during and after every match of the 2023 Cricket World Cup." 

The food delivery platform ran non-skippable and bumper ads on YouTube to remind viewers of its quick delivery service. Swiggy also used the YouTube masthead to maximise their visibility on the platform for key match days.

The result was "a 10% lift in brand awareness across key markets and a 15% lift in search terms related to Swiggy Instamart during the cricket season".

The creator ecosystem and content innovation

It isn’t just the ‘cricktubers’ that are running the show on YouTube during high-impact cricketing tournaments. As per Pai, even regular mainstream entertainment-driven creators take to their channels to deliver cricket-oriented content during big competitions.

"Creators are actually offering new avenues to engage with the tournament through innovative formats and fresh segments, diversifying conversations around the tournament. These rituals include post-match critiques and collaborative analysis, where you just get together and assess what happened in a match."