The state of global sport, according to social media

There has been a lot of talk about the Super Bowl this year. The American Football event always boasts the attendance of “A-list” celebrities with huge followings - and this year was no exception:

• Justin Bieber: 595.9M followers

• Taylor Swift: 482.0M followers

• Kim Kardashian: 476.8M followers

• Ariana Grande: 457.2M followers

• Kendall Jenner: 343.3M followers

Simple logic, then: The fact that it attracts so many celebrities means that it should, in theory, have the most attention. Right? 

Woah. Not so fast…

The Super Bowl is actually far down the list… 

… according to data from Football Benchmark that looked at the sports competitions that attract the most social media followers.

When you compare the Champions League (279.6 million followers) to other heavyweight sports competitions, there simply isn’t any competition - pardon the pun. 

The only one that comes remotely close is the NBA with 257 million followers. But, even the most followed NBA team wouldn’t crack the top 10 in global football followings. 

Ouch. 

Football = Superstars

Global icons are dominating in football too. The two most followed people - not just footballers - on all major platforms are Cristiano Ronaldo (909.2 million) and Lionel Messi (626 million). 

Most impressively, nine footballers break the 100 million followers barrier - and only three in other major sports can boast the same numbers: Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, and NBA legends LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

It’s true. Social media following isn’t everything, but the viewing numbers are pretty definitive…

• Super Bowl LVIII = 123 million average viewers

• Champions League Final 2023 = 450 million average viewers

• World Cup Final 2022 = 1.5 billion average viewers

There’s no denying that the Super Bowl is a major event. But, when you put it shoulder to shoulder with European football, it doesn’t stand a chance - let alone the World Cup…