The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has won the award for “Best Use of Social Media” from the prestigious International Sports Convention (ISC) for the league’s social media and content strategy during 2020 at the annual International Sports Awards. The tournament took place between 18 August and 10 September 2020, and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic it was played behind closed doors. Because of this, the use of social media to keep fans engaged was more important than ever.  CPL achieved great results, with over one million new followers added and over 300 million social media video views achieved during the tournament period alone.

From the point that the lockdowns started earlier in 2020 Hero CPL worked tirelessly to keep fans entertained. From broadcasting archive matches with new commentary from the likes of Tom Moody and Ian Bishop, to arranging for the player draft to be done remotely with a world-class punditry panel, keeping fans entertained and engaged was at the centre of the tournament’s thinking. 

During the tournament itself, live CPL games were broadcast into 77 countries on Facebook and YouTube as well as sending out highlights clips worldwide. The tournament also worked with broadcast partners Sunset+Vine to create fun and engaging content so fans could learn what it was like inside the tournament’s bio-secure bubble.  Hero CPL also launched the “Life Stories” films on the tournament’s social media channels. These beautifully made films focused on the lives of up and coming Caribbean cricketers and won plaudits from around the world. 

Hero CPL has also started sharing content on a number of new social media channels such as TikTok, Twitch, Triller and Instagram Reels. 

Hero CPL’s Head of Marketing, Chris Watson, said: “Hero CPL has always prided itself on being at the forefront of digital media and content creation, but in 2020 we realised it was even more important. Rather than scale down our digital output during the pandemic we took the opposite approach to make sure our channels were more engaging than ever. To have delivered 800million social media video views this year, including over 300m during the tournament, shows that this strategy was a successful one and to get recognition for this from ISC is a fantastic moment for the tournament.”