Match over, ads on: How YouTube gets IPL fans to keep scrolling | Advertising

IPL 2024 wasn’t just about watching the match—it was about everything around it. Fans spent 20% more time with off-field, non-live content, reflecting a strong pivot towards on-demand viewing and deeper fandom. YouTube claims it has emerged as the platform of choice for cricket content, with 67% of fans consuming sports-related videos and Shorts.

This shift has opened new advertising windows. Brands like EMotarad and Goibibo ran early campaigns, gaining traction even before IPL 2025 took off. Recognising this behaviour, YouTube rolled out ‘Crictubers’—a creator-led initiative designed to fuel fan conversations and analysis. As creators Shubham Gaur and Taran Singh of 2sloggers put it, “Real fans don’t stop at stumps—they binge on post-match breakdowns.”

Shubha Pai, head of YouTube Sales and Solutions, Google India, explains to Campaign that by combining creator content with community engagement, YouTube is turning cricket from a broadcast event into an ongoing cultural experience that brands can actively participate in.

Here are edited excerpts of the conversation:

With IPL advertising becoming increasingly competitive, how is YouTube helping brands break through the clutter beyond traditional live match ads?

YouTube in India is the go-to digital platform for cricket fandom, where conversations extend far beyond the last over. It’s not just about watching the match, but engaging in a living, evolving conversation driven by culture, community, and creators. This means brands can tap into a continuous stream of engagement before, during, and after the match or the tournament.

YouTube’s range of ad formats, including vertical video ads, AI-powered image ads, skippable and non-skippable ads, bumper ads, and interactive ads with polls and cards allow for more immersive and interactive brand experiences from the small to big screen. Brands have the opportunity to match their distinct marketing objectives with the best suited format.

For instance, bumper ads (6-sec non-skippable ads) are short, impactful ads ideal for high-recall campaigns. Or connected TV (CTV) QR codes are another emerging tool that go beyond branding to drive consumer action. Also, YouTube Shorts occupies a unique space within the short form video category because it exists within the wider YouTube platform ecosystem, affording brands a singular platform of two distinct parts. And the AI underpinning YouTube’s ad solutions helps brands reach the right fans based on their interests and demographics, ensuring ads resonate with passionate audiences.

Since cricket fandom today extends beyond the match itself, spilling over to social media platforms, how has YouTube’s role evolved in shaping this ‘always-on’ cricket culture without resulting in viewer fatigue?

With nearly 500 million fans in India—including 43% Gen Z, 59% from rural areas, and 30% women—the love for the game has evolved into continuous engagement across consumers that goes far beyond live broadcasts. From expert analysis and nostalgic throwbacks to memes, fan banter, and DIY sports journalism, YouTube is where fans not only consume but also shape the cricket narrative. 88% of cricket fans consume sports news, expert analysis, informal talk shows and fan-generated sports content, highlighting the integral nature of the platform.

YouTube’s ‘shoulder content’ caters to every type of cricket fan, ensuring engagement stays fresh and fatigue-free. This includes watch parties where fans can experience matches together virtually, live polls that offer real-time interaction and opinions, and in-depth analysis by experts and creators. Creators producing regional-language content open up new opportunities to cater to fans seeking content in their preferred languages.

How do you use insights on dual-screen behavior to help brands rethink their engagement strategies in response?

The surge in smartphone usage and affordable data has fundamentally transformed how cricket is consumed in India. Today, dual-screen behavior is the norm. 90% of cricket fans (93% of Gen Z) are active on another screen while watching live sports. Gen Z, especially, tends to multitask while watching a match—balancing activities like ordering food, checking stats, and scrolling through social media.

This behavioral shift is further validated by platform data: search interest has surged four-fold in the last four years, and cricket related content on YouTube has seen more than 50 billion views. India isn’t alone in this evolution—on-demand sports consumption is already mainstream in mature markets.

For brands, these insights offer a powerful blueprint to rethink their engagement strategies. In a world where fandom doesn’t end with the final bowl, the opportunity lies in tapping into the full spectrum of a fan’s journey—before, during, and after the match. This means going beyond traditional advertising, adopting full-funnel and embedding brand strategies which consist of post-match analyses, creator-led reactions, meme culture, behind-the-scenes moments, and real-time trends on Shorts.

For example, Swiggy took a highly insight-driven approach to marketing during the 2023 Cricket World Cup. Swiggy Instamart used strategic inputs and audience insights from Google to understand that Indians were watching sports on two devices and that there was a significant overlap between cricket viewers and their grocery customers. They ran non-skippable and bumper ads on YouTube before, during, and after matches to remind viewers that they could order snacks without missing the action. They also used YouTube Masthead for maximum visibility on key match days. As a result, Swiggy Instamart saw a 10% lift in brand awareness across key markets and a 15% lift in search terms related to their brand during the cricket season.

How does YouTube support brands in leveraging Cricutubers for more organic, immersive campaigns?

YouTube’s Crictubers transform on-field moments into viral Shorts, explore fan theories, and host informal talk shows, making the game more accessible, engaging, and personal than ever before. This shift is reinforced by a Kantar survey, revealing that 89% of viewers in India consider YouTube their primary destination for sports content.

The content produced by these Crictubers can be broadly categorised into post-match rituals and immersive experiences such as live streams, polls, and collaborative analysis through formats like split-screen breakdowns. Notably, during marquee events like the IPL, even mainstream YouTube creators shift their focus to cricket. This has opened up innovative and multiple avenues for brands to identify creators who can help them connect with their target consumer groups in the most engaging and relevant manner.

For example, Gaurav Kapur, through his show ‘Breakfast with Champions’, interviews cricketers in a candid setting; Skoda has previously collaborated with this program. In the current IPL season, Big Basket partnered with Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel, which offers in-depth match analysis, adopting an interesting approach. This illustrates how brands are employing diverse strategies and seeking out YouTube creators to forge more authentic connections with their consumers in a way that best aligns with their marketing objectives.

With ad measurability and ROI being top priorities, how do YouTube’s solutions help brands with better audience targeting and performance tracking?

YouTube’s AI-powered ad solutions enable brands to reach highly engaged audiences at the right time across various formats (big screen, long-form, or short-form). For first-party audience strategies, brands can directly target existing users by uploading lists and selecting formats, with AI handling delivery.

To expand reach, lookalike audiences can be activated, also managed by AI.  For cricket, in particular, brands can leverage a ‘pre-built’ audience of enthusiasts, identified by their engagement with cricket channels and creators.  To ensure effective measurement, they can align each marketing objective with specific metrics.

For campaigns focused on awareness and reach at a set frequency, reach reports are provided. Brand lift studies on awareness and recall measure campaign effectiveness, offering data-driven performance insights. For consideration-focused campaigns, creator collaborations are often employed due to their effectiveness in driving awareness, with success measured by search lift.

Moreover, for moments when consumers are aware of and considering a product with the goal of driving action, products like ‘Demand Gen’ are highly effective. The key advantage of AI lies in its ability to ensure that ads reach the right person at the optimal moment. Whether users are browsing Shorts during a break or engaging with content on connected TVs, AI determines the ideal time to display the ad for maximum engagement.

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