The NFL is the world’s richest sports league, with the pending sale of the Washington Commanders for $6 billion the latest example of its wealth. But when it comes to reaching the largest global audience, the other football dominates the marketing landscape.
Soccer events (World Cup, Champions League), players (Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi) and teams (Real Madrid, Manchester United) have massive global reach when compared to every other sport. That spread is reflected in KORE’s annual “State of the Industry” report, released, which looks at trends in sponsorship and marketing spending and value.
Global football players, teams and leagues have more total followers, 54% of the total sports universe, and engagement, 53%, than all other sports combined. The sport’s social media accounts have more than 15 billion followers, with basketball ranked second at 2.5 billion and cricket in third at 2 billion.
KORE quantifies sponsorship value on social media through its adjusted ad value (AAV) metric, which factors in the platform, engagement, positioning, clarity and promotional quality of imagery and text in social media posts. It measured more than 19 million posts by athletes, leagues and teams on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Weibo and VK to see which ones generated the most value during 2022. It found that Instagram videos were the most engaging form of content in 2022.
Global soccer icons dominate the list of athletes who create the most value for their sponsors on social media. The sheer volume of their followings makes any post an opportunity to generate value.
The brands partnering with these athletes are getting a bargain, according to data from KORE and Sportico. KORE’s algorithm shows that Cristiano Ronaldo generated $124 million in AAV for his endorsement partners, followed by Lionel Messi ($94 million), Neymar ($35 million) and Kylian Mbappé ($21 million). Sportico’s list of highest-paid soccer players estimates Ronaldo ($60 million) and Messi ($50 million) will earn much less from their endorsement partners, which use the players beyond social media for broadcast, print and online ad campaigns.
Messi can’t equal Ronaldo’s social media following and doesn’t post as frequently, but his posts following Argentina’s World Cup title resulted in four of the seven most-viewer Instagram posts of all time. Three of them featured the three-stripe logo of Adidas, which sponsors Messi and the Argentinian national team.
Indian cricket star Virat Kohli is the only non-soccer player in the top six for AAV. The 650 million engagements across his social media accounts generated $30 million in value for brands. LeBron James is the highest-ranking athlete in American team sports at No. 24 with $8.8 million.
The female athletes generating the most value for sponsors on social media are much more diverse, with no overlap by sport within the top 10. The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing helped freestyle skier Eileen Gu drive the most value for sponsors online – she ranked fourth on Sportico’s list of highest-paid female athletes, thanks to more than 20 endorsement partners leading up to the games. Gu generated $4.1 million in online value for those sponsors last year, per KORE.
Gymnast Olivia Dunne has been an NIL star while competing for LSU since 2020. She ranked fourth overall with $2.9 in AAV for sponsors, behind Swiss soccer star Alisha Lehman and tennis ace Serena Williams.
Eight of the top 10 teams ranked for AAV were European soccer clubs. Spain’s Real Madrid and Barcelona led the way with $310 million and $191 million, respectively. Real Madrid drove more value than any other pro sports league, outside of the NBA and Formula 1.
The Golden State Warriors-with an AAV of $84 million-were the only U.S. sports team to crack the top 25.
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