Culture Round-Up: IPL, Nobel, 100 cr vaccinations kept netizens hooked in October
Starcom’s monthly report also highlights how important influencers and right celebrity endorsements are for brands
The month of October for Indians was headlined by the finals of an exciting season of IPL and the exemplary feat covid vaccinations reaching a count of 100 million. Apart from that, activities by celebrities, like always, kept the conversations alive on social media. Here is a comprehensive outlook on what kept the Indian web space engaged in October 2021, as highlighted by Starcom’s monthly Culture Roundup.
Covid vaccinations spread hope
Though overall conversations around COVID have fallen considerably, there has been an increase since the previous month. October marked a significant achievement for India- completing over 100 crore vaccinations. Public places, schools, and colleges started to open up as COVID-19 vaccinations for children also received the WHO approval. This information has kept raising the search volumes on Google throughout the month.
Cricket & football kept the excitement up
Sports led the conversations across platforms in October as the first half of the month witnessed IPL matches, and the latter part had the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. India vs Pakistan match on a Sunday evening was extremely popular on both TV and OTT (Disney+Hotstar) but India’s loss turned into a big disappointment for the netizens. Football was the other sport that raised conversations with the Premier League and the UEFA World Cup Qualifiers.
Festivals lit up the web
The month was studded with festivities and celebrations posts- be it CSK winning the IPL, Gandhi Jayanti, Navratri, Dussehra, Halloween, or something else - both brands and users alike shared posts. eCommerce Sales (due to the upcoming festive season)- Myntra Big Fashion Festival, Amazon Great Indian Sale, Flipkart Big Billion Days, etc. also kept the web buzzing.
What came in as a big surprise was when Twitter became the prime social platform when Instagram and WhatsApp were down for over 4 hours and brands and users started conversations across Twitter- from memes to observations.
When Instagram & Facebook are down. pic.twitter.com/mVFlVOOCOC
— Netflix (@netflix) October 4, 2021
Celebrities got all the attention
In Pop-Culture and Entertainment - content and celebrities drove the conversations, especially across Twitter. Adele’s new single ‘Easy on Me’ and Shehnaaz Gill’s ‘Tu Yahin Hai’ tribute to the late Siddharth Shukla took the internet by storm. Kanye West officially changed his name to ‘Ye’ and in one of the internet’s most swoon-worthy moments during October - cricketer Deepak Chahar proposed to his girlfriend after a CSK match and the clip went viral.
A lot of chatter also ensued around Shah Rukh Khan and his elder son Aryan Khan who got embroiled in a drug controversy.
In other news, Nobel Prize laureates were announced and these were trending primarily on Google. While Facebook changed its name to Meta, the acquisition of Air India by TATA, and Amitabh Bachchan’s limited edition NFT also led conversations on Twitter.
On OTT & for the ‘Gram
On OTT, MX Player and Disney+Hotstar remained the most popular platforms in India with the latter witnessing a never-before-seen user engagement during India vs Pakistan match. Netflix’s You Season 3 and Little Things Season 4, House of Secrets (a docu-series on the Burari case), and Sardar Udham Singh on Prime Video were extremely popular with the audiences.
Shehnaaz Gill and Diljit Dosanjh starring ‘Honsla Rakh’ and ‘No Time to Die’- the final in the James Bond series starring Daniel Craig was a special hit in the theatres. Bhuvan Bam - the popular influencer and YouTube content creator released his own series ‘Dhindora’ that had the internet raving. On Spotify, the tracks from ‘Shershaah’ continue to reign the charts, months after the release of the film.
Vin Diesel walking late friend Paul Walker’s daughter down the aisle, as well as Kourtney Kardashian’s proposal posts, were popular on Instagram. More and more celebrities took part in the latest trends and artists also turned to reels that have the power to make their music go viral, e.g.- Varun Dhawan and Kiara Advani’s reel on Diljit Dosanjh’s Lover had over 17 mn views. The Squid Game music and effect reels were popular across the globe. Both brands and users kept the internet entertained with multiple meme trends- from Instagram and WhatsApp down to the Red Flags, #BestBreakupLines, etc.
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Brand campaigns went viral
Some brand campaigns made rounds across platforms. From Cred’s yet another offbeat ad ‘Great for the Good’- this time featuring cricket legend Kapil Dev. CoinSwitch Kuber collaborated with Ranveer Singh for a campaign emphasizing crypto trading ‘Bohot Hard Nahi Hai’- a spin-off of the actor’s popular song. Cadbury’s ‘Not Just a Cadbury Ad’ campaign ahead of this year’s Diwali festivities was an internet favourite - wherein retailers and small store owners can create their own versions of ads featuring Shah Rukh Khan and share it via social media- all while leveraging AI. Tata for its new car Punch launched the #PUNCHATHON campaign asking audiences to spot the Tata Punch cars at popular destinations in the respective cities and record their honest reviews of the car and share it on social media- all for a chance to win a Tata Punch. The Fabindia Diwali campaign ‘Jashn-e-Riwaaz’ faced the netizens’ backlash and had to be taken down by the brand.
Get in touch with Ayushi.sharma@starcomww.com for the detailed file.
