Mumbai Indians (MI), five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions and the winners of the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL), have scaled a new record on social media with their YouTube channel accruing a billion cumulative views on their videos in the last one year.
In the news for acquiring their former star and Indian vice-captain Hardik Pandya in a trade from Gujarat Titans (GT), MI are setting up nicely for the 17th edition of the tournament beginning in 2024.
35 million of those views came through in September with subscribers shooting up by nearly 70,000 per month, resulting in 2, 10,000 subscribers joining in quarterly even during the off-season since the conclusion of the IPL. The YouTube channel has garnered 4.15 million subscribers already, roping in nearly 65,000 new ones this month. MI’s YouTube channel is the most subscribed Sports Team channel in India which has 400,000 more subscribers than the likes of Royal Challengers Bangalore (3.75M) and a million more than their arch rivals Chennai Super Kings (3.15M).
Further, MI’s YouTube channel has evolved to become a hotbed and one-stop destination for everything related to the franchise. The secret behind the success of this initiative has been their ability to tap upon this resource as a medium that can convey stories of players and support staff transcending the cricketing boundaries. With content series such as ‘MI Daily’ and match day LIVE shows such as ‘MI Live’, the channel gives fans an inside view of the lives of their favourite cricketers.
Avenues such as the MI Creators’ Lounge brings together the most popular influencers supporting MI under one umbrella and enables their discussions with fans ahead of and after the games.
Videos delving deep into stories related to the personal life of cricketers are often put up, bringing new layers and dimension to the messaging. The franchise has roped in popular creators like Viraj Ghelani, Funcho, Saurabh Ghadge, and Karan Sonawane amongst others, who have a widespread connect with the people, which have possibly helped them reach out to a newer target audience with fun, relatable, slice of life content transcending beyond cricket all year round.
On the back of human interest stories, content from the dressing room, pre-match and post-match interactions amongst players to influencers discussing everything MI, the channel has become the go-to destination for cricket enthusiasts. It has helped them engage meaningfully with their fan base, whilst also broadening their appeal driven by their comprehensive and well-rounded social media strategy.
As the IPL enters its 17th season next year, MI will embark on their pursuit of success on the field whereas their backend team continues to work round the clock across the year to keep the franchise upbeat and buzzing across all important social media platforms, especially YouTube. Their Instagram handle hit the 13 million followers mark recently, as the franchise continues elevating and bolstering their strength in various factors both on and off the pitch in anticipation of reclaiming glory in IPL 2024.