As the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) hangover subsides, one cannot help but think how the tournament, which is still in its infancy compared to some other T20 leagues in the world, has grown bigger and better over the last few years. Despite a few hiccups, the tournament has largely remained safe from all sorts of controversies.
When the idea of the Pakistan Super League was conceived, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was facing an uphill task of fighting off the then Big 3 – Australia, England, and India. PCB did not only successfully launch the HBL PSL but now after the seven editions of the tournament has successfully reached these three nations with a big number of viewership.
PCB over the years was able to make it a commercial success with an increase of around 200 percent in earning through sponsors. Apart from the title sponsor HBL, one of the wins for this year was a partnership with the leading short-form video platform TikTok. With this, PCB has set an example as to how to engage the fan base, while also increasing the revenues.
Even though TikTok had successfully penetrated the Pakistani market, there were several question marks about its reputation. However, if there were any doubts regarding TikTok’s growing popularity in the country, they have been cleared in a comprehensive manner. Its acceptability rate has increased and, in some cases, has completely changed the lives of people forever.
Wasif Ghafoor, a youth from the Mirpur Khas region is the prime example of people who became an overnight sensation, thanks to TikTok and PCB. Wasif was captured on TV, dancing to the catchy rhythm of “Agay Dekh” – the HBL PSL’s song for this year, sponsored by TikTok.
The video after getting viral on TikTok reached various other social media platforms subsequently resulting in Wasif getting interviewed by countless media outlets. This ‘instant connection’ is something that had been missing in other T20 franchise leagues. And this is where the HBL PSL takes the edge, by partnering with the right platforms like TikTok.
One must commend the PCB for thinking out of the box and engaging fans on platforms like TikTok. To check the impact that the PCB has been able to make with such partnerships, one does not have to look further than the numbers of the views on TikTok on HBL PSL-related hashtags.
TikTok’s campaign “#KhelegaPakistan” has accumulated 3B views. That’s right, 3 billion views! The exposure that the HBL PSL has been able to get is truly unparalleled. The HBL PSL’s official tagline “#LevelHai” has garnered close to 1 billion views, followed by the Official PSL Song “#AgayDekh” getting more than 200 million hits.
Alongside TikTok, PCB was able to gain the digital live-streaming partnership to take the live-action to Australia, Europe, and Africa, whereas according to PCB, the second-highest viewership of PSL is in India. It would not be wrong to say that the HBL PSL has grown massively over the last 2-3 weeks, and reached thanks to platforms like TikTok where the users celebrated and welcomed cricket with open arms.
After the resounding success of the PSL partnership, TikTok is now the title sponsor for the historic Pakistan-Australia series. This could also mark the beginning of a new era for Pakistan Cricket where platforms like TikTok will partner with the PCB on a regular basis. After all, for both the PCB and TikTok, this is a win-win situation. And the real benefactors of the partnership are Pakistan cricket and fans.
