When Wimbledon banned Roger Federer from sporting orange-soled shoes a week ago, it created a buzz on Facebook and Twitter. And on Wednesday evening, Juan Martin del Potro was the trending or the most talked about male tennis player at Wimbledon, while semi-finalist Marion Bartoli was the most popular female player in the social media circles. David Ferrer and Sabine Lisicki were close on their heels, according to SMG Convonix, the digital marketing arm of media conglomerate Starcom MediaVest Group.
SMG Convonix has come out with a social dashboard to measure global online buzz and chatter around Wimbledon 2013. The dashboard, powered by Iristrack, SMG Convonix’ proprietary social listening and online brand monitoring platform, measures the buzz around tennis matches, identifies trending players and monitors fan support. So far, the dashboard has logged more than 1.6 million Wimbledon-related online conversations from around the world. (The tournament began on June 24 and is scheduled to end on July 7.)
While the UK tops the chit-chat list, India is the seventh most vocal country on social media regarding Wimbledon.
“Tennis is a truly global sport, and we at Convonix are watching the world watch Wimbledon,” says Vishal Sampat, CEO, SMG Convonix. According to Sampat, the dashboard gives a glimpse into how fans experience the matches, how they engage with social media while watching a Wimbledon match and how much of their excitement translates into conversation on any social forum. It also provides an insight into what audiences are saying about the sportspersons playing in Wimbledon 2013 and what the hot topics for that hour are.
Convonix had earlier tracked the London Olympics as a pilot project. It will come out with a comprehensive report on Wimbledon after the tournament ends. Convonix hopes to present it to marketers as a precursor to the next year’s tournament so that brands can use this data to effectively target consumers.