Nike has tremendous reach on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter through its NBA ambassadors, but players endorsing Under Armour and adidas have had engagement on those platforms that rivals -- or even tops -- that of Nike, according to an exclusive analysis of the top 25 brand ambassadors for each of the brands for THE DAILY by social media measurement and valuation firm MVPindex. Nike brand ambassadors totaled 84.1 million followers on Facebook as of yesterday morning, which compared to 24.5 million for adidas ambassadors and 7.6 million for UA. Nike also led NBA ambassador engagement over the last 90 days on Facebook, with two posts from Cavaliers F LeBron James and one from Thunder F Kevin Durant providing a combined 88,360 likes for the brand. But a look at Instagram shows that despite Nike having almost 22 million more followers than UA, the Baltimore-based brand has seen over 1.3 million more points of engagement (i.e. likes or retweets) over the last 90 days. The difference between Nike and UA during that time can be attributed to seven posts from Warriors G Stephen Curry, which by themselves attracted 2.17 million points of engagement. There also were 16 posts by six other UA ambassadors. adidas also topped Nike on Instagram during that period, with Trail Blazers G Damian Lillard alone contributing 41 posts. Rockets G James Harden and Hornets G Jeremy Lin also helped fuel the 1.14 million points of engagement that adidas had, compared to the 863,000 for Nike. UA also led both brands on Twitter over the last 90 days.
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SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS OF TOP 25 NBA AMBASSADORS BY BRAND
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BRAND
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FACEBOOK
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INSTAGRAM
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TWITTER
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Nike
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84,063,235
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34,882,534
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56,290,982
|
|
adidas
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24,470,639
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10,540,340
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16,784,646
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Under Armour
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7,562,596
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12,022,675
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7,015,887
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POINTS OF ENGAGEMENT BY TOP 25 NBA BRAND AMBASSADORS OVER LAST 90 DAYS
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BRAND
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FACEBOOK
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INSTAGRAM
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TWITTER
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|
Under Armour
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544
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2,229,081
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57,172
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adidas
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36,516
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1,137,577
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11,612
|
|
Nike
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88,360
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863,222
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13,619
|
|
|
|
|
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ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES: Looking at all NBA brand ambassadors for Nike, adidas and UA over the last 90 days, Curry has the most points of engagement for branded content across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Curry had 2.22 million points of engagement through yesterday, well ahead of Lillard at No. 2 with 969,623. But it was Lillard who posted most often on the platforms during that time frame, with 120 posts compared to Curry’s 13 posts. Curry saw the majority of his pickup come from Instagram (2.16 million likes), where he led all NBA players. He also led on Twitter with 68,768 retweets. James was the leader on Facebook with 68,768 likes.
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NBA PLAYERS WITH MOST BRANDED POSTS OVER LAST 90 DAYS
ACROSS FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM
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| PLAYER |
BRAND
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POSTS
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| Trail Blazers G Damian Lillard |
adidas
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120
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| Warriors G Stephen Curry |
Under Armour
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13
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| Nuggets G Emmanuel Mudiay |
Under Armour
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13
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| Bucks G Greivis Vasquez |
Under Armour
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12
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| Hawks G Kent Bazemore |
Under Armour
|
9
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NBA BRAND AMBASSADORS WITH MOSTS POINTS OF ENGAGEMENT
ACROSS FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM OVER LAST 90 DAYS
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| PLAYER |
BRAND
|
POINTS OF ENGAGEMENT
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| Warriors G Stephen Curry |
Under Armour
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2,216,967
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| Trail Blazers G Damian Lillard |
adidas
|
969,623
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| Thunder F Kevin Durant |
Nike
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401,121
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| Cavaliers F LeBron James |
Nike
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187,514
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| Hornets G Jeremy Lin |
adidas
|
32,943
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