Websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are not exactly new, although they slowly crept in and took the media landscape by storm. Namely, stats in the infographic below by BettingSites suggest that as much as 61% of all sports fans get information online. Same goes for NHL fans, who get informed through websites like Kukla’s Korner.

The percentage of sports fans who use mobile phones to follow up on the latest events from favorite leagues has increased by 18% from 2013 to 2016.

Television seems to have drawn the short end of the stick here. As more fans stream hockey matches online, big media houses like ESPN annually lose millions of subscribers. Leagues and TV stations are trying to adapt to this trend, and that’s why a lot of them offer live streams via YouTube and promote them on social media.

When it comes to Twitter, leagues such as NBA and NFL have close to 30 million followers each. NHL is not as popular, but it still gathers up around 6 million people.

In order to make their image available to an online audience, leagues, teams, and athletes use social media to make huge profits. Platforms like these present an excellent opportunity for organizations to showcase their brand and advertise.

When it comes to return and conversion, soccer clubs are the most successful. According to information from top soccer clubs, each of their followers on social media earns them around $10 on average. Famous teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid each have more than 100 million members on Facebook, so you do the math.

Sports companies like Nike and Adidas are especially interested in athletes’ social media accounts. Sports celebrities like Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James have $1 billion lifetime deals with Nike, and they also get a significant amount for every Tweet they mention them in. Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin has 2.7 million followers on Twitter, and he uses his profile to capitalize on the sponsorship with Gillette.

YouTube dominated sports video content for a while but Facebook took over, and NHL invests a lot in its dedicated channel on the platform. Namely, YouTube is the second most popular channel for sports discussion, being only behind Facebook. Fans love watching highlights, interviews, and pre-match footage on demand, and that’s what YouTube can give them. However, Facebook and Instagram have their own video players now, so a lot of people can watch sports content directly from their feed.

In order to have a better insight into how social media transformed the world of professional sports, you should look at the detailed infographic presented below.

Enjoy!

Infographic URL:https://bettingsites.me.uk/sports-on-social-media