Twitter bets on cricket in India market with new features, content formats

Between January 2021 and January 2022, 4.4 million Indians on Twitter shared 96.2 million tweets about cricket

Twitter said on Tuesday that it will be testing a Cricket Tab on its Explore page, rolling out the experiment to some people in India who use Twitter on Android. The tab will be a single landing point that will serve as a channel of discovery for what’s happening in cricket along with relevant  Twitter-first content.

According to the micrologging platform, 75 per cent of people on Twitter in India identify as cricket fans and 58 per cent play the sport. Meanwhile, between January 2021 - January 2022, 4.4 million Indians on Twitter shared 96.2 million tweets about cricket.The company also said that users can now post on Twitter in 11 Indic languages and that 50 per cent of all tweets from the country are in local languages.

Talking about the experiment, Shirish Andhare, Director of Product for Twitter India, said, “Twitter is a megaphone for millions of people in the country who are already ‘Making India Happen’ on Twitter. We learn from the conversations constantly unfolding on the service and they motivate us to build more for our audiences here.”

“Through our new Cricket experiment offering an immersive experience], we want to make it easier for India’s cricket fans to find relevant and engaging content as well as encourage conversations and find latest updates including the score all in one place,” he added.

People who have access to the tab will be able to view content in various formats, including – an Events page where fans will be able to follow the most recent tweets and updates from the field, live scorecards, interactive team widgets that will give fans access to content widgets like top players, and team rankings.

As things escalate on-field, these widgets will serve fans with the latest scoop around what their favourites are up to, in real time. There will also be a feature to show top video content for giving an immersive experience to fans. For this, Twitter will be partnering with broadcast and creator partners to cater users with customised video content, including in-match moments.