The Great Indian Cricket Fan on Truecaller: How Live Cricket Drives High-Intent Mobile Behaviour
Cricket in India is far more than entertainment. It is a real-time behavioural trigger that shapes how millions of people communicate, coordinate, and make decisions on their smartphones.
This is the key insight from “The Great Indian Cricket Fan on Truecaller”, a new study released by Truecaller in partnership with VTION. The research highlights how major cricket moments translate into measurable spikes in mobile activity — turning live matches into high-intent digital moments.
Cricket Is No Longer a Passive Viewing Experience
According to the study, cricket has evolved into a dual-screen experience. While television delivers emotion, the smartphone becomes the place where action happens.
Key findings show:
Nearly 1 in 2 cricket viewers actively uses Truecaller during live matches
76% of viewers use their phone while watching cricket
Mobile activity spans calling, messaging, score checks, food ordering, and digital payments
Rather than casual scrolling, this behaviour reflects intent-led usage, where people are actively coordinating plans, verifying calls, and making decisions in real time.
Utility Apps See a Surge in High-Intent Usage
One of the most notable insights from the study is the nature of mobile engagement during live cricket. Truecaller recorded an average 21% increase in active usage compared to pre-cricket baselines.
Importantly, this uplift is driven by:
Increased calling activity
Utility-focused actions
Decision-oriented behaviour
—not passive content consumption.
“Cricket delivers unmatched scale for brands, but scale alone is no longer enough,” said Hemant Arora, VP of Global Ad Business at Truecaller.
“What truly drives impact is access to moments when people are ready to act. Truecaller enables brands to appear in trusted, decision-led environments during cricket.”
Why the Phone Becomes the Control Centre During Matches
The study underlines a critical shift in user behaviour: cricket does not end on the TV screen.
“Because the phone is always in hand during live matches, decisions shift there,” said Archana Roche, Global Head of Measurement & Analytics at Truecaller.
“In high-emotion moments, users gravitate toward trusted utility environments — and calling and payment apps emerge as key decision platforms.”
This insight explains why utility apps outperform social platforms during live sporting events when trust, urgency, and action matter most.
Link to the report: ads-media.truecaller.com/f400c107-c1e5-42ca-a3a4-e4fc216897fc
Measuring What Users Actually Do — Not What They Claim
Unlike traditional recall-based studies, this research relies heavily on passive mobile-behaviour measurement, offering a more accurate picture of real-world usage.
“Cricket is a high-attention environment, which makes recall-based measurement unreliable,” said Manoj Dawane, Founder & CEO of VTION.
“Passive mobile-behaviour data allows us to observe what people actually do on their phones during live matches.”
This approach strengthens the study’s relevance for:
App developers
AdTech and MarTech teams
Brands looking to reach users at decision moments
Platforms focused on trust and utility
Why This Matters for India’s App Economy
With over 310 million monthly active users in India and more than 450 million globally, Truecaller sits at the intersection of communication, trust, and utility. The study reinforces a broader trend in India’s digital ecosystem: attention peaks during cultural moments, but action happens inside trusted apps.
For brands, platforms, and marketers, the takeaway is clear:
High emotion creates opportunity
Utility creates conversion
Trust determines outcomes
About Truecaller
Truecaller is a leading global communication platform focused on caller identification, spam blocking, and trusted calling experiences. Widely used in India, the app helps users identify unknown callers, filter unwanted communication, and make safer call decisions in real time. With over 310 million monthly active users in India and more than 450 million users worldwide, Truecaller has become a key utility app in the smartphone ecosystem. Headquartered in Stockholm, the company has been publicly listed on Nasdaq Stockholm since October 2021, with advertising serving as its primary revenue stream.
For more information, visit www.advertisers.truecaller.com.
About VTION
VTION is a digital intelligence platform that specialises in passive mobile-behaviour measurement and analytics. The company helps brands and marketers understand what users actually do on their smartphones, rather than relying solely on recall-based surveys. By analysing real-world mobile behaviour across large user panels, VTION provides actionable insights into attention, intent, and decision-making patterns. Its data-driven approach is widely used to study high-engagement moments such as live events, digital transactions, and app usage trends in India’s smartphone-first market.
More information is available at www.vtion.ai.
TechMitra Take
This study isn’t about cricket scores or fandom — it’s about how large-scale cultural moments reshape digital behaviour in real time. As India’s smartphone usage matures, decision-led environments like utility apps are becoming more valuable than ever.
For the tech ecosystem, cricket season is no longer just prime-time TV — it’s prime-time mobile intent.
Source & Disclaimer
Source: Press Release by NewsVoir
Disclaimer: This article is based on a syndicated press release from NewsVoir. TechMitra has edited and optimized the content for clarity, readability, and SEO. All facts, claims, and data are the responsibility of the source organization.
