IPL ninth most-followed sports competition in the world on Social Media

When the Indian Premier League (IPL) started way back in 2008 in the wake of India’s success at the 2007 T20 World Cup, there were apprehensions all around regarding its future. There were more naysayers than hopefuls and the reasons were obvious. Cricket had never seen such an experiment and thus there were doubts.

But fast forward to 2019 and the IPL has become one of the best leagues in the world. It is by far the best and the richest cricket league in the world right now. And a recent study has shown just how popular India’s premier T20 tournament is. KPMG Football Benchmark recently carried out a study to find out the most-followed tournaments in the world.

They counted the total followers of each tournament on its Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube channels. Football tournament UEFA Champions League is the most followed sports competition in the world with a staggering 141 million followers across social media. Basketball competition NBA is at the second spot and is one of the only two competitions with more than 100 million followers. NBA has 119 million followers.

England’s English Premier League (EPL), Spain’s La Liga and FIFA World Cup complete the top five. While EPL has 95 million followers, La Liga and FIFA World Cup have 87 and 68 million followers respectively. Talking about IPL, it is at the ninth spot and is the only cricket league to feature in the top ten of the list. ICC Cricket World Cup is also in the list and is at the eighth spot with 48 millions. On the other hand, IPL has 31 followers across its social media platforms.

IPL auction date revealed

The auction for next year’s IPL will take place in Kolkata on December 19. This will be the first time Kolkata will host the auction. The upcoming auction will not be a big affair as all the teams will be disbanded after the next season. The franchises will have to build new squads ahead of the season in 2021.