[INFOGRAPHIC] The Importance of Social Media in Sports

Why is social media so important in sports? How is the influence increasing so much? How does a soccer star earn millions for just one tweet?

Since the emergence of social media in our lives, everything has changed. We have started communicating differently as we buy, sell, and live online. We can easily post details of our lives on Facebook and Instagram. We search, read, and watch everything that is in our interests. Millions of us are sports fans; that can’t be ignored. That’s why sport fits in with social media so naturally.

61% of sports fans prefer following sports online. The way they connect with their beloved team or players has changed over the past few years. Now every fan wants to be aware of everything that an athlete does. Ronaldo, for example, has the biggest audience on social media. This is the reason why his channels’ worth is $500 million a year (to Nike).

Every team, player or athlete is considered to be a commercial brand now. A brand needs a protected and strong reputation on social media. This allows one player to unite millions of fans and receive an enormous amount of revenue.

93.3% of global sports leaders expect a sustained growth of fans on social media in 5-10 years. This is possible because many TV channels lose thousands and even millions of their subscribers each year. ESPN, an American sports TV channel, lost 12 million subscribers by 2012 and $52 million in revenue. Another TV channel, British Sky Sports, lost 19% of viewers in 2016. However, 80% of sports fans are active on their social media accounts while watching a game on TV. So be calm, we are not losing TV sports broadcasting yet, it’s just that TV is not enough for sports fans anymore.

Below you can find an infographic with lots of useful numbers. Look through it carefully because it might help you set up your next marketing campaign.

Karthik Reddy

Guest blogger

If you have any questions about sports marketing, feel free to contact me at karthik@leandigital.co

Article sources:

BettingSites.me.uk

Photo source:

Pixabay

Karthik Reddy

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