Cricket viewing in India drives surge in call activity and commerce actions: Study
Cricket viewing in India significantly boosts mobile calling and coordination, with Truecaller usage rising 21% during matches as viewers rely on calls for planning, payments and food orders, according to a new study by Truecaller and VTION.
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Cricket viewing in India significantly increases mobile calling activity, with one in two cricket viewers active on Truecaller during matches and overall platform usage rising 21% compared to non-cricket periods, according to a new behavioural study conducted by Truecaller in partnership with digital intelligence firm VTION.
The study, titled The Great Indian Cricket Fan on Truecaller, analysed passive mobile behaviour of around 12,300 urban smartphone users who watch cricket and use Truecaller, alongside a primary survey of 828 respondents. Behavioural data was tracked during the March–May 2025 cricket window and benchmarked against a pre-cricket baseline.
The findings show that cricket acts as a strong trigger for phone-based coordination, leading to a surge in incoming and outgoing calls during live matches. As a result, Truecaller usage increases during match time, with calls described as the primary driver of planning, coordination and decision-making among viewers.
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The report estimates that cricket-related call moments enable Truecaller to reach up to 310 million users in India. It also suggests that cricket engagement on the platform extends beyond marquee tournaments, with an estimated 98.5 million users continuing to follow weekday cricket through regular calling and coordination activity.
Phone usage during matches remains high, with 76% of cricket viewers using their smartphones while watching games. Activities include messaging, checking scores, ordering food and making payments, with calls identified as the starting point for most group decisions.
The study also links increased calling activity to higher commerce actions across several categories. Sports and media-related actions showed the highest lift during cricket, followed by food and beverage, ecommerce, gaming and payments. Food consumption was found to be closely tied to match viewing, with 70% of respondents saying cricket increases their likelihood of ordering food.
Demographically, Truecaller usage during cricket was found to skew towards urban and higher-income audiences, with penetration exceeding 50% among NCCS A and B groups, metro city viewers and weekend-heavy cricket audiences.
Gender-wise analysis indicated stronger call-led engagement among women during cricket, with women showing 1.25 times higher engagement compared to average users. Higher activity was observed in categories such as food ordering, digital payments and fashion browsing.
Trust and payment behaviour
The report also examined trust-related behaviour during high-emotion cricket moments. Around 41% of respondents identified calling environments as among the most trusted and least disruptive spaces for advertising during cricket, alongside payment platforms.
In high-stakes match situations, 27% of users said they avoid experimenting with new payment options, preferring familiar and trusted environments. The study suggests that low-distraction calling environments play a role in shaping payment confidence during such moments.
The research combines continuous passive mobile-behaviour measurement with survey-based insights and is weighted to represent India’s urban Android smartphone population across age, gender, geography and socio-economic classification. All data used in the study is anonymised and aggregated, and findings are reported with a stated 95% confidence level for directional trends.
The study was conducted by Truecaller in partnership with VTION, a digital intelligence platform specialising in passive mobile-behaviour analysis.
