(This is a guest article by Anthony Alsop)

As of November 2008, India had a reported 81,000,000 users on the internet, which was an 100% increase from 2007, and they generated 4.54% of all internet traffic for 2008. With over 1.1 billion people, that’s only a mere 7% penetration level of the general population on the internet, and one can only imagine how many new users have started since then.

Not only is the country generating new users at a rapid, but there is a reported 350,000,000 mobile devices currently being used by Indian people as well. The country has long been a hot bed for technology development, but is one of the fastest growing general telecom markets in the world too.

How does sports play into this? Sachin Tendulkar is India’s greatest batsman in the game of cricket. He has scored the most runs in cricket history and is arguably one of the games greatest ever. In India, where cricket is considered a religion, he is the ultimate celebrity. Imagine if we combined the star power of athletes like Chris Johnson and Reggie Bush, then imagine that was just one man. Sachin Tendulkar is that man.

There have been plenty of fake Twitter accounts involving Sachin since Twitter was created, last week however Tendulkar officially arrived on Twitter with this tweet.

In a country of over one billion people, it wouldn’t be long before his fans found him. That first tweet came on 11:21am on May 4th, which was nearly 6 days ago as of this writing. Since that tweet, Sachin now has over 245,000 followers and growing. He already has more Twitter followers than Chris Johnson and Reggie Bush combined.

If we break it down that is an average of:

• 44,545 new followers per day
• 1856 new followers per hour
• 30.9 new followers per minute

In other words he gets a new follower every two seconds, lets hope he turned his email alerts off. The following Twitpic is what accompanied the first tweet, and that has had 155,000 views on its own. Indian people, just like the rest of the world, are starting to embrace Twitter as part of everyday life.

It may not be the most glamorous of photos, but that didn’t matter. His fans wanted verification that it was Sachin and they got it. Within 72 hours Twitter had also given him the verified tick of approval, the fastest tick that this author has ever heard of.

With YouTube recently debuting it’s near-live streaming site for the Indian Premier League, cricket is starting to go mainstream in social media too. The IPL Youtube channel has over 54,000,000 channel views and over 92,000 subscribers. The IPL’s recent championship match has had over 117,000 views in 13 days, and that broadcast lasted over 4 hours. Not to mention it’s Facebook fan page which has nearly 300,000 fans and the league’s Commissioner, who has over 144,000 followers on Twitter.

India has the number behind it, amazing numbers, and those numbers will soon turn to dollars for international sports teams. The NBA knows about it, having recently set up NBA India. If you’re figuring out where your next marketing opportunity may come from for sports, think of India.

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Anthony Alsop is a blogger, consultant and founder of sportspiel.com.au. He has worked previously in both the IT and sport sectors, so focusing on the niche of social media and sport was a natural fit. Anthony is from Melbourne, Australia which was recently named the sporting capital of the world and has consulted with sporting organisations both in Australia and in the United States. He is also running Australia’s premier sport and social media event, the Digital Sport Summit. You can find him on Twitter @anthonyalsop or via email

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About Lewis Howes

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(This is a guest article by Anita Lobo)

Sports & social media have received a lot of attention worldwide, particularly over the opportunity or threat twitter represents. However, the adoption of twitter by the athletes has been considerably slower in India.

This list presents top sports tweeps i.e. the ‘early adopters’ who actively reach out to fans and foster a community of interest and dialogue. A cross-section of athletes from varied disciplines, sports journalists, and one notable sports administrator are here – all of whom share a remarkable view from the front lines of sport in India.

1.    @chillyrathore/Rajyavardhan Rathore/ Shooting/ Olympian & multiple world-record holder:

Silver medalist, Men’s Double Trap at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. Chilly’s win at the 2004 Silver Olympics is widely regarded as a turning point in India’s performance at the Olympic & Commonwealth Games. He is an inspiration to peers as well as young sportsmen, across disciplines.

2.    @karunchandhok/ Karun Chandhok/ Racing/ Racing driver:

Won the first ever Asian Formula Renault V6 Championship and had a historic win as an Indian racer at an F1 weekend at the Spa circuit in Belgium, 2007. Karun is among the few Indian racers who are seriously pursuing a F1 slot. David Coulthard recently stated that Karun has the talent to make it!

3.    @sainanehwal/ Saina Nehwal/ Badminton/ Badminton champion:

Ranked no. 6 in the world, this young sportswoman is the first Indian woman to clinch the World Junior Badminton Championship in Nov 2008 and the first Indian to win a Super Series title [Indonesian Open/ June 2009]. In a sport dominated by Chinese shuttlers, Saina is considered a formidable opponent. She is widely recognised for being among the few Indian women & athletes who are among the top 10 of their sport, at world levels.

4.    @gokeshavan/ Shiva Keshavan/ Luge/ India’s three-time Winter Games Olympian:

Shiva was the youngest-ever Luge Olympian at the Nagano Winter Olympic Games and has represented India at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games 2002, Olympic Winter Games 2006. He won bronze at the Asian Championships, Nagano 2008-09.

5.    @coachcyrus/ Cyrus Poncha/ Squash/ Coach to India’s national team:

Among the most respected squash coaches in the world, Cryrus has been feted as Asian Junior coach of the year 2003 and 2004. He received India’s highest national honour awarded to coaches, the Dronacharya Award in 2005. He trains India’s squash team and also blogs regularly to keep together India’s small but extremely active group of squash enthusiasts.

6.    @MahendraDhoni/ Mahendra Singh Dhoni/ Cricket/ India’s national cricket team captain:

Dhoni is the most popular captain in recent times of India’s national cricket team – appealing to fans, peers and connoisseurs of cricket. India’s national team also has had a very successful win record under his captaincy. A swashbuckling batsman, Dhoni is a sponsors’ delight and recently topped a Forbes magazine list of the world’s top earning cricketers at USD 10 million.

7.    @prempanicker/ Prem Panicker/ Sports writer/ Cricket expert, Editor India Abroad & rediff.com:

A journalist for over 17 years, cricket expert and sports writer with a legendary following. Prem combines knowledge & humour with inimitable style over his tweet-stream that on any given day is a delightful commentary about sport and the quirky people who make it worth watching!

8.    @SpiceBoxofEarth/ Dileep Premachandran/ Sports writer/ Associate editor, Cricinfo:

Leading cricket writer and an expert on the game in India, Dileep is the Asian cricket correspondent for the Sunday Times (London), Inside Sport and writer for the Guardian, Sunday Times and SA Cricket.

9.    @Soumya1910/ Soumya Bhattacharya/ Sports writer/ author of ‘You Must Like Cricket’?:

Editor of Hindustan Times [in Mumbai]. Soumya’s book ‘You Must Like Cricket?’ was one of the notable books of the year for the award-winning Observer Sport Monthly magazine in the UK. Soumya juggles editorial duties around game schedules.

10.    @LalitKModi/ Lalit K Modi/ Administrator/ IPL Chairman & Commissioner:

The brain behind IPL, Lalit Modi wields tremendous power over India’s cricket establishment and has recently begun tweeting. BCCI’s gag order on cricketers prevents them from tweeting or blogging or engaging in any form of social media, without their permission. Is Modi on twitter a sign that BCCI’s gag order might change too?

11.    @satyabratadam/ Satyabrata Dam/ Mountaineering/ Adventurer:

While mountaineering isn’t a conventional competitive sport, Satyabrata is about pushing the boundaries and has inspired a wave of mountaineering and sports enthusiasts. Satyabrata has climbed nearly all major peaks worldwide, including the Mount Everest from the tough Northern face. He is the Joint Director (Mountaineering) of the Indian Navy’s Adventure & Sports division.

12.    @jdbasketball/ JD Walsh/ Basketball/ American basketball coach, spreading basketball in India:

JD Walsh is an ‘honorary Indian’ for the remarkable training programs and the community outreach he’s involved with. JD has help over 100 training camps for aspiring hoopsters and coaches, across India. He regularly conducts programs that reach out to underprivileged children and people affected by violence, through the Hoops for Health & Peace programs.

13.    @bhavikdotcom/ Bhavik Gandhi/ Yachting/ Yatchsman:

World record-holder for rowing solo across the Atlantic, spending 106 days at sea. Bhavik was voted among the top 5 sports personalities of the Year 2007 by Outside Magazine and is a RYA qualified Yacht Master. Bhavik has played an important role in changing India’s perception in the sailing & yachting world.

‘Cricket is a religion in India & that’s where the big money is’ – you’ll hear this ad nauseum about India, which is still an emerging market that offers great opportunities for sports marketing.

What’s frequently overlooked is that a diverse group of sports – golf, shooting, tennis, badminton – are attracting more fans as Indians perform better on the international circuit.

Both newbie sponsors who find the entry cost of cricket prohibitive, as well as seasoned ‘mega’ sponsors are increasingly seeing merit in spreading their risks [beyond cricket] and building brand associations with a diverse group of sports.

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Part 2 will feature sports entities i.e. marketers, news sources, and clubs that have a significant following in India.

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About Lewis Howes

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