Look around in the world of internet, motion media or print media you will realize that Kolkata Knight Riders is the most popular team in the competition. Never the winners or the best team on paper, KKR is able to create a buzz amongst the fans – there is something about the team which creates a lot of excitement. After winning the first two matches of IPL season 3, KKR has yet created more things to talk about. KKR is not the costliest team, infact they come second last when valued in price but everyone loves to talk about them.

Nielsen Company, which has used its Online BuzzMetrics technology to measure the buzz around IPL on social media sites states “Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has been the most discussed team online, both in 2009 and 2010. Kings XI Punjab is the second most discussed team, followed by Deccan Chargers, in social media in 2010.”
Decoding the reasons of KKR’s popularity, I think the following are the reasons:

1. Shahrukh Khan: King Khan, one of the biggest names in Indian cinema and probably one of the most popular Indians in the world. When Shahrukh Khan decides to do something new, the media follows him like crazy. When a Bollywood star had decided to buy a franchise in IPL, media went berserk and entertainer as he is, Shahrukh released several ad & video campaigns for his team which reserved prime time space on entertainment and music channels.
2. Saurav Ganguly: With the start of IPL, Indian cricket scene was going through a generation change, when the most successful captain in Indian cricket was removed from the team and sidelined by selectors. Saurav Ganguly was the epicenter of discussions for a long time between cricket experts, media and fans. IPL was seen as an opportunity for Ganguly to show his leadership skills and make a comeback to national cricket. Ganguly was followed everywhere and the media was waiting for a
3. Fake IPL Player: Fake IPL Player is a blog that started on April 18, 2009, the same time as the 2009 season Indian Premier League matches. It is written by an anonymous blogger who claims to be a member of the IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). However, the blog has become a cult, a raging phenomenon on the internet with a fan following that is numbered in hundreds and thousands. According to Mumbai-based digital marketing firm, Pinstorm, the fake IPL player blog had at its peak, on 26 April, 150,000 visitors, who each spent 15 minutes on the site, adding up to about 37,000 hours spent on the blog in one day, putting it up there with popular individual led blogs such as Aamir Khan’s blog at its peak with about 170,000 visitors!
4. John Buchanan: Coach John Buchanan had proposed a new concept of “multiple captains”. That concept was not accepted by many leading players and experts. Many people thought that this concept was proposed to sideline the captain Saurav Ganguly. After this was announced the fans of Ganguly protested all over india. This incident was followed by Ganguly’s meeting with team owner Shahrukh khan. In that meeting also nothing was decided. Multiple captain means having more than one captain for one match. When this incident happened many people thought that was spat between Ganguly and coach but after some time the meeting between Shahrukh, Ganguly and John Buchanan happened. After the meeting is over Shahrukh khan the team owner announced that Ganguly will remain as the captain for the first matches and after that based on Ganguly’s performance decision will be made. This incident was the centre of attraction for many people.
5. Brendon Mccullum & Ricky Ponting: The failure of the New Zealand captain to be successful in IPL when he was being projected as the face of KKR was also discussed a lot. Punter (Ricky Ponting) was speculated to be the captain of KKR, even his absence from IPL could not stop people from discussing about him. As is said, either people like Punter or hate Punter but they never ignore him.

Let us see what magic KKR creates now in the popularity charts. I hope they do well in IPL this season and be in the top 3. Also see the posts about Fake IPL player and Unbranding KKR (2009).

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Related posts:

1. Everything about Fake IPL Player – Part 1
2. Unbranding Kolkata Knight Riders
3. IPL Perspectives
4. Everything about Fake IPL Player – Part 2
5. Who’s going to reach the IPL semifinal? Download the IPL Predictor!