Manchester United named top of the league for digital value generated by sports teams
Manchester United generated the most digital value of any sports team in the world last year, according to a new report published today.
The Digital Value of Fans 2022 report is based on social media performance and was created by audience platform Horizm, which works with leading teams in several sports.
Despite a fourth consecutive barren season on the pitch, United topped the team rankings with €209m of value generated, helped by excitement around their re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Spanish giants Barcelona (€177m) ranked second and Real Madrid (€114m) third as European football clubs monopolised the top eight places.
Completing the top 10, after Chelsea, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Arsenal, were Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket franchises Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The list focused on the 28 teams whose social media following across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok exceeds 20m, designating them as global brands.
Real Madrid (282m) and Barcelona (278m) led the way for audience size, with United (179m a distant third in a top 10 comprised solely of football teams.
PSG saw the biggest audience growth (33.3 per cent), thanks in part to their signing of Lionel Messi, followed by a more diverse mix of teams from Formula 1, which witnessed it most exciting season in decades, and cricket’s ever-popular IPL.
Royal Challengers Bangalore generated the most value per fan – calculated by dividing value by audience – followed by Chennai Super Kings, Mercedes F1, Manchester United and the IPL’s Mumbai Indians.
“Our study of sports’ “global brands” shows that Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona have the biggest digital followings by some way, almost 100m more than third placed Manchester United,” says the report.
“United however were the top performer in generating value, creating over €200m in just 12 months, no doubt boosted by their re-signing of Cristano Ronaldo, the world’s most followed person on Instagram.”
The Premier League generated by far the most revenue of any sports league, its €613m amounting to more than the next two, LaLiga and the NBA, combined.
The NFL and IPL completed the top five of a list based on the aggregate value of all the teams in a given competition.
The Premier League had the biggest audience (728m), again followed by LaLiga and the NBA but was only seventh for value per fan, in which ice hockey’s NHL ranked first.
”Our report shows that the digital channels of elite sport are a multi-billion dollar opportunity; one that, increasingly, we are seeing right holders and brands looking to embrace,” said Horizm CEO Pedro Mestriner.
“The growing digital audiences of teams and leagues represent a huge well of revenue potential, one that is still largely untapped.
“For sponsors looking for greater return on their investments, digital sports content offers them much higher levels of engagement compared with standard content – engagement they are now able to secure outside the confines of traditional sponsorship agreements.”