Infobip Study Reveals 70% of Indian Cricket Fans Feel Priced out, While 88% Prefer Social Media for Team Updates

• Many Indian cricket fans say clubs “talk at them, not with them,” as 64% call for more relevant, two-way communication.

• 77% of fans say teams fail to share relevant content, and 87% want closer access to players and behind-the-scenes stories.

A new research by AI-first global cloud communications platform Infobip shows that cricket fans in India want more personalized and always-on engagement from their favorite teams. The study finds that 88% of Indian fans feel disconnected or disappointed with their team’s communication, with the same percentage prefer receiving team updates via social media. At the same time, 70% say they feel priced out due to rising costs of tickets, merchandise, and subscriptions. Infobip’s global Sports Fan Engagement Study, which surveyed 1,500 fans across major sports, including cricket fans in India, highlights their expectations and explores how technology can transform fan interaction worldwide.

About 99% of cricket fans across the country follow their favorite teams on social media, with 72% engaging with team content or news every day. Yet interaction often feels one-sided. About 64% say club boards “talk at fans, not with them,” while 59% feel like “just a number,” revealing a clear gap in two-way communication. More than half believe they are treated as customers rather than part of a community, and 45% felt that paid TV subscriptions limit their access to key experiences.

Nearly 87% of fans stressed that regular access to players and behind-the-scenes moments would help them feel more connected. Meanwhile, 84% want digital fan communities featuring contests and special events. Beyond social media, fans increasingly prefer direct updates through WhatsApp, team apps, and SMS/text message.

The preferences highlight an opportunity for sports organizations to transform how they engage with fans. Infobip helps teams create continuous, personalized interactions through intelligent automation and multi-channel communication, keeping fans connected and involved beyond match days.

Harsha Solanki, VP GM Asia, Infobip, said, “Cricket fandom in India is evolving fast. Almost all fans now follow their teams online, and 86% want richer, more technical content that goes beyond match highlights. This signals a shift in expectations—from simply consuming updates to actively participating in the team’s journey. With technologies like AI combined with rich messaging channels such as WhatsApp, RCS, clubs have the chance to turn one-way communication into interactive, intelligent, and continuous engagement that builds trust and long-term loyalty among fans.”

Infobip is already enabling this shift through its intelligent engagement platform, which delivers real-time match updates, early ticket access, and tailored fan experiences. The platform helps teams stay connected beyond match days, deepening fan loyalty while driving growth in viewership, merchandise sales, and overall engagement.

Globally, leading sports organizations are using Infobip’s AI and messaging solutions to elevate fan engagement. For the TGR Haas F1 Team, Infobip integrates AI-powered chatbots and WhatsApp to enable instant interaction, including an interactive AI version of driver Oliver Bearman that bring fans closer to the team. In the United States, its partnership with the Los Angeles Chargers enhances communication through Apple Messages for Business, delivering exclusive content and timely updates.

In Latin America, Infobip has teamed up with Claro Sports to introduce an AI-driven chatbot using Google’s Rich Communication Services (RCS), giving Mexican sports fans real-time scores, athlete notifications, and interactive experiences across multiple messaging channels.

Read the survey here: https://www.infobip.com/downloads/sports-fan-engagement-report

About Infobip

Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey, with AI as the driving force of innovation. Through a single, natively built platform, Infobip delivers omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact centre solutions that help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications while driving growth and increasing customer loyalty. Infobip is focused on enabling and accelerating AI adoption as it continues its transformation into an AI-first company. Infobip’s technology has the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices in 6 continents connected to over 10k+ connections of which 800+ are direct operator connections. The company was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kutić and Izabel Jelenić.

Recent award wins include:

• Infobip named the number one Established Leader in the Juniper Research RCS for Business 2026 Leaderboard (Feb 2026)

• Infobip recognized as a growth and innovation leader in Frost Radar™: Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) by Frost & Sullivan (Oct 2025)

• Infobip ranked as the number one Established Leader in the Juniper Research Mobile Messaging Fraud Prevention Market report (Sept 2025)

• Infobip named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) for the third consecutive year. In 2025, positioned furthest in Completeness of Vision (July 2025)

• Infobip named among Top 75 in Fortune’s Europe’s Most Innovative Companies 2025, placing it in the top 25% of all listed organizations (June 2025)

• Infobip ranked as a Leader in the Omdia CPaaS Universe Report for the third time (April 2025)

• Infobip ranked an Established Leader in the Juniper Research Conversational AI Leaderboard (Feb 2025)

• Infobip named a CPaaS Leader for the third time in the IDC MarketScape (Feb 2025)

• Infobip named one of the top CPaaS providers in Metrigy’s CPaaS MetriRank Report (Dec 2024)

• Infobip recognized as the number one provider in the AIT Fraud Prevention market by Juniper Research (Oct 2024)

• Infobip named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies (March 2024)

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