Cricket-related apps have seen over 450 percent surge during the ongoing T-20 World Cup, the traffic peaked during the second week into the cricket season with India-Pakistan match adding to the frenzy, according to the latest data shared by 9Apps Trends, 9Apps'App tracking service.
9Apps is part of Alibaba mobile business unit and one of the most popular third-party app stores in India. The report offers a glimpse on how the android app market has reacted to the cricket mania that has gripped the nation.
Talking about the app download trends, Ebrahim Popat, Country Manager of 9Apps said: "9Apps is very popular among Indian users due to its local apps and features. We are encouraged by the strong growth in sports-app downloads, and happy to help so many users connect with their favorite sport."
Since the launch of Hotstar, TV Movies and Live Cricket, the app has quickly made it to the top 20 in overall ranking on 9Apps Trends. Its daily downloads peaked and reached over 200,000 downloads on March 19th - the day India beat Pakistan in a league match.
The keyword search cricket has also been trending. Before the WT20, 3 cricket-related app ranked among top searches and only one ranked among new ranking. The number went up to seven and five during the third week of the cricket season.
Increased smartphone penetration and better network infrastructure is allowing millions of users to enjoy a cricket game on the go. Three of the top five cricket-related apps - Hotstar, Cricket T20 2016 Live TV and Cricbuzz provide videos and even live streaming of the matches. The content consumed by cricket fans is getting diversified as users' appetite for video is fast growing.
Cricket season is too big to ignore. Sports app developers and content providers have either updated their apps to bring world-cup-theme features, or providing new content to attract users.
The cricket season offers a unique opportunity for app developers and content providers to test their ability in catering to seasonal demands.
