FC Barcelona is the most popular sports team on social media
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Wednesday 17 July 2013
FC Barcelona is the most popular sports team on social media
ZenithOptimedia launches global ranking of sports teams The Social League
FC Barcelona is the most popular sports team on both Facebook and Twitter, according to new global
research by ZenithOptimedia and Sponsorship Intelligence. The Spanish football club tops
ZenithOptimedia’s new ranking of sports teams on social media, The Social League, with 43 million
fans on Facebook and 9.1 million followers on Twitter. Rival team Real Madrid comes second in
ZenithOptimedia’s global ranking with 38 million Facebook fans and 7.9 million Twitter followers.
ZenithOptimedia used its new proprietary research and analysis tool Socialtools to produce The
Social League, which ranks sports teams around the world according to their popularity on social
media*. Socialtools is a live tracking app that monitors brand performance on Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube. It generates over 100 live dashboards that benchmark a brand’s social performance against
competitors and the category.
According to The Social League’s top 30 ranking, the biggest sport brands in social media are football
(soccer) and basketball teams. The top four teams on Facebook, and seven of the top ten, are
football teams from Europe; the others are a Formula 1 team from Italy and two basketball teams
from the US. US basketball is more prominent on Twitter, providing four of the top ten teams, while
European football provides the other six, including four of the top five.
The European football teams dominate the top of The Social League as they have wide international
followings. The top five teams on Facebook are FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Manchester United,
Chelsea FC and AC Milan. These teams get 31% of their fans from Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and
the US, and only 7% from Italy, Spain and the UK, where they are actually based.
FC Barcelona has more Facebook fans in Indonesia (4.1 million), Mexico (3.0 million), the US and
Brazil (1.9 million each) than it does in its home market of Spain (1.7 million). This is primarily
because these markets are so large – Mexico, the US and Brazil represent 27.8% of the total
Facebook population, and 16.1% of FC Barcelona fans. Indonesia, however, provides 9.3% of FC
24 Percy Street London W1T 2BS
Zenith Optimedia Group Limited T +44 (0)20 7961 1000
Registered in England number 4244479 F +44(0)20 7961 1113
Registered office Pembroke Building Kensington Village Avonmore Road London W14 8DG
VAT number GB 707283633 www.zenithoptimedia.comBarcelona’s fans from 4.9% of the Facebook population, giving it an index** of 191. FC Barcelona has
a strong association with Indonesia. It recently added Indonesian as one of only eight languages on
the official website. In keeping with its number one status in The Social League, FC Barcelona has a
very active engagement strategy with its large audiences of fans and followers. The club posts
content on Facebook, on average, seven times a day. It has a strong news strategy, posting updates
about team events, matches, player status, results and on/off season activity. Fans are rewarded with
exclusive content, such as gaming apps and signed team photos.
The other team in the Facebook top 10 is Ferrari, which recently merged its Formula 1 and
automotive pages to broaden global engagement with the Ferrari brand. Ferrari makes a huge effort
to make fans feel part of it Formula 1 team. Its new Facebook page features The Ferrari Virtual
Academy, which invites fans to take part in virtual races, configure cars to their own specifications
and have their performance tracked on the site. On average, Ferrari posts content six times a day on
Facebook, and tweets at least 20 times.
Just outside the Facebook top 10, at 12th place, comes the Indian national cricket team. Another
Indian cricket team – Mumbai Indians – is in at number 26. These are present thanks to the huge
popularity of cricket in India and the large numbers of Indians on Facebook ‐ India provides 87% of
the Indian Cricket Team’s fans.
The top five US teams on Facebook are the basketball teams LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics,
and Miami Heat, plus the baseball team New York Yankees. These get 46% of their Facebook fans
from the US, with the Philippines a distant second at 13%. Teams from the US have more Facebook
fans in our League than teams from any other country: 166 million in total, or 37% of the total. This is
partly because the US also has more Facebook users than any other country, accounting for 16% of
the total.
The UK comes second in our League, with 94 million fans (21% of the total), while Spain comes third,
with 86 million fans (19%). Both countries benefit strongly from the international appeal of their
teams, since the UK accounts for only 3% of Facebook users and Spain 2%. The US dominates the
Twitter league even more, with 32 million followers, 42% of the total. Spain comes second on Twitter,
with 19 million followers, while the UK comes third, with 12 million.
24 Percy Street London W1T 2BS
Zenith Optimedia Group Limited T +44 (0)20 7961 1000
Registered in England number 4244479 F +44(0)20 7961 1113
Registered office Pembroke Building Kensington Village Avonmore Road London W14 8DG
VAT number GB 707283633 www.zenithoptimedia.comBelinda Rowe, Global Managing Partner, ZenithOptimedia, said: “The Social League shows that sports
teams have the power to reach passionate fans across the world, and one of the most effective ways
to do this is provide frequent updates with exclusive content on social media.The launch of The Social
League demonstrates the power of Socialtools, our new social media application. It gives our
planners around the world comprehensive insights about brand performance in the social space,
helping them to devise highly engaging social strategies that deliver ROI.”
Notes to editors
*We do not cover China, where Facebook and Twitter are unavailable.
**Here the index is the proportion of a team’s fans from a country, divided by the proportion of the
Facebook population from that country, multiplied by 100. It measures how over‐represented (index
above 100) or under‐represented (index below 100) that country is within the team’s social fan base.
24 Percy Street London W1T 2BS
Zenith Optimedia Group Limited T +44 (0)20 7961 1000
Registered in England number 4244479 F +44(0)20 7961 1113
Registered office Pembroke Building Kensington Village Avonmore Road London W14 8DG
VAT number GB 707283633 www.zenithoptimedia.comThe Social League – top 30 teams on Facebook
Team Sport Country Number of fans
1 FC Barcelona Football Spain 42,680,849
2 Real Madrid C.F. Football Spain 38,391,783
3 Manchester United Football United Kingdom 33,696,211
4 Chelsea Football Club Football United Kingdom 17,205,888
5 LA Lakers Basketball USA 16,351,755
6 A.C. Milan Football Italy 15,691,813
7 Arsenal Football United Kingdom 14,068,018
8 Liverpool FC Football United Kingdom 12,151,171
9 Ferrari Formula 1 Italy 11,779,611
10 Chicago Bulls Basketball USA 8,682,474
11 Miami Heat Basketball USA 8,152,568
12 Indian Cricket Team Cricket India 7,659,937
13 FC Bayern München Football Germany 7,468,244
14 Boston Celtics Basketball USA 6,927,881
15 New York Yankees Baseball USA 6,347,730
16 Juventus Football Italy 5,784,498
17 Manchester City FC Football United Kingdom 5,489,518
18 Dallas Cowboys American Football USA 5,390,028
19 Pittsburgh Steelers American Football USA 4,860,542
20 New England Patriots American Football USA 4,024,726
21 SC Corinthians Paulista Football Brazil 3,933,489
22 Boston Red Sox Baseball USA 3,816,628
23 BOCA Football Argentina 3,794,206
24 New York Knicks Basketball USA 3,731,306
25 Green Bay Packers American Football USA 3,469,022
26 Clube de Regatas do Flamengo Football Brazil 3,384,061
27 Mumbai Indians Cricket India 3,211,251
28 New Orleans Saints American Football USA 2,939,059
29 Borussia Dortmund Football Germany 2,742,877
30 Chicago Bears American Football USA 2,705,988
24 Percy Street London W1T 2BS
Zenith Optimedia Group Limited T +44 (0)20 7961 1000
Registered in England number 4244479 F +44(0)20 7961 1113
Registered office Pembroke Building Kensington Village Avonmore Road London W14 8DG
VAT number GB 707283633 www.zenithoptimedia.comThe Social League – top 30 teams on Twitter
Team Sport Country No. followers
1 @FCBarcelona Football Spain 9,106,397
2 @realmadrid Football Spain 7,869,254
3 @Lakers Basketball USA 3,141,998
4 @Arsenal Football United Kingdom 2,414,605
5 @chelseafc Football United Kingdom 2,227,852
6 @LFC Football United Kingdom 1,712,253
7 @MiamiHEAT Basketball USA 1,360,859
8 @acmilan Football Italy 1,139,999
9 @celtics Basketball USA 1,111,868
10 @Orlando_Magic Basketball USA 1,105,260
11 @MCFC Football United Kingdom 909,982
12 @Yankees Baseball USA 906,697
13 @chicagobulls Basketball USA 832,605
14 @nyknicks Basketball USA 637,218
15 @PSG_inside Football France 627,940
16 @OM_Officiel Football France 621,682
17 @Patriots American Football USA 600,984
18 @juventusfc Football Italy 595,354
19 @nyjets American Football USA 581,597
20 @dallascowboys American Football USA 566,643
21 @InsideFerrari Formula 1 Italy 552,743
22 @steelers American Football USA 544,569
23 @okcthunder Basketball USA 515,634
24 @SpursOfficial Football United Kingdom 486,478
25 @RedSox Baseball USA 475,363
26 @packers American Football USA 463,267
27 @Giants American Football USA 457,807
28 @BocaJrsOficial Football Argentina 445,344
29 @SFGiants Baseball USA 431,563
30 @Atleti Football Spain 409,928
24 Percy Street London W1T 2BS
Zenith Optimedia Group Limited T +44 (0)20 7961 1000
Registered in England number 4244479 F +44(0)20 7961 1113
Registered office Pembroke Building Kensington Village Avonmore Road London W14 8DG
VAT number GB 707283633 www.zenithoptimedia.comFor further information, please contact:
Jonathan Barnard Anthony Goddard
Head of Forecasting Head of Media Research
ZenithOptimedia Sponsorship Intelligence
Tel: +44 20 7961 1192 Tel: +44 20 3003 9972
E‐mail: jonathan.barnard@zenithoptimedia.com E‐mail: anthony.goddard
@sponsorshipintelligence.com
About ZenithOptimedia
ZenithOptimedia ‐ www.zenithoptimedia.com ‐ is a leading global media services network with 250
offices in 74 countries. We are part of Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communications
group, and the world’s second largest media counsel and buying group. As the first agency to apply a
rigorous and objective approach to improving the effectiveness of marketing spend,
ZenithOptimedia delivers to clients the best possible return on their communications investment.
This philosophy is supported by a unique approach to strategy development and implementation –
the Live ROI planning process. The ZenithOptimedia Group of companies equips our clients with a
full range of integrated skills across communications planning, value optimisation, performance
media and content creation. Our key clients include Armani Group, ASUS, Aviva, BBC Worldwide,
British Airways, Electrolux, General Mills, HTC, Lactalis, LVMH, Nestlé, News Corporation, L'Oréal,
Oracle, Puma, Qantas, Reckitt Benckiser, Richemont Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sanofi,
Telefónica O2, Toyota/Lexus, Verizon and Whirlpool.
About Sponsorship Intelligence
Sponsorship Intelligence – www.sponsorshipintelligence.com ‐ is ZenithOptimedia's specialist
sponsorship division. Sponsorship Intelligence is staffed by a team of experts based in London and
New York who work with brands and rights owners. Sponsorship Intelligence works with its brand
clients to identify, negotiate and leverage sponsorships, as well as evaluate the impact of their
sponsorship investment. Sponsorship Intelligence works with its rights owner clients to evaluate the
reach and impact of their properties. Clients include PUMA, Electrolux, Verizon, UEFA, IOC and FIFA.
24 Percy Street London W1T 2BS
Zenith Optimedia Group Limited T +44 (0)20 7961 1000
Registered in England number 4244479 F +44(0)20 7961 1113
Registered office Pembroke Building Kensington Village Avonmore Road London W14 8DG
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