Mumbai, Consumers today are increasingly using social media to express themselves and what more can be the hottest topic just before the Indian Premier League (IPL). What is interesting is that the overall buzz about IPL in social media is almost twice as high in 2010 compared to last year, according to analysis undertaken by The Nielsen Company using Nielsen Online BuzzMetrics, which measured online posts in Message boards, Blogs, Discussion groups and Micro blogs (Twitter) across all cricket following countries. Blogs are the most popular platform for discussing cricket, followed by message boards. Twitter is third on the list.

The overall increase in Buzz volume indicates the exponential growth in social media across regions, said Karthik Nagarajan, Associate Director - Nielsen Online, The Nielsen Company.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is the most discussed team online, both in 2009 and 2010. However, Kings XI Punjab has overtaken Rajasthan Royals as the second most discussed team in social media this year, followed by Deccan Chargers.

Amongst players, Ricky Ponting is the most discussed IPL player online, both last year and in 2010. Sachin was a distant second last year but is almost neck-and-neck with Ponting this year, followed by Dhoni who is the third most discussed player by cricket fans in both years. Kevin Pietersen was fourth in 2009; however he has been overtaken by Virender Sehwag this year.

It might be surprising that Ricky Ponting is the most discussed IPL player online, this is because cricket fans either love or hate Punter, but seldom ignore him. Also, message boards are very active in Australia and Ponting is the most widely discussed player there, said Nagarajan.

Last year Shah Rukh Khan was the most discussed name within KKR in relation to IPL discussions globally. He was followed by Sourav Ganguly and Brenden McCullum. Fake IPL Player was fifth, after Ajit Agarkar. If we look only at only India sources for last years buzz regarding KKR, then Fake IPL Player was in the fourth spot - after SRK, Ganguly and McCullum.

Fake IPL Player was in the top 5 in 2009, even though the scope of the reports was global. This was in the absence of Twitter. So you can imagine how much more attention he can garner this year, with a tool like Twitter at his disposal. This also indicates how effectively a topic can be trended in the online world, within a period of 7 weeks, said Nagarajan.

Notes to Editor

About Nielsen Online BuzzMetrics

Nielsen BuzzMetrics was launched in India in November, 2009. It comes with a fully-customizable dashboard called MyBuzzMetrics that allows brand managers to easily monitor and analyze whats being said online about their brands or organization from a wide range of Consumer-generated media (CGM) sources. CGM is todays fastest-growing media segment. Every day, millions of consumers go online to express opinions, share ideas and create new media for mass consumption. In this era of consumer control, companies must work harder than ever to manage perceptions and reputations, and they require dynamic, customizable and robust market intelligence to ensure swift response to online opportunities and threats.

BuzzMetrics is accessible via a Web interface. It provides real-time data collection, powerful analytical and segmentation capabilities, at-a-glance-metrics and a range of report and delivery options to support clients across services.

About The Nielsen Company

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications. The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York