SportsBusiness Journal and Hookit teamed up to see which teams and leagues have the most socially engaged fan bases. For this study, Hookit analyzed all Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts made by approximately 1,255 leagues, federations and teams from June 16, 2016, to June 15, 2017. Overall, nearly 7 million posts were captured from that period. A composite score was established by Hookit that took into account factors such as how often fans viewed the posts, how often they shared them, the average number of likes, new followers added and many more.
| Rank |
Property |
Composite score |
| 1 |
NBA |
2.48 |
| 2 |
English Premier League |
2.17 |
| 3 |
NFL |
1.81 |
| 4 |
IOC |
1.56 |
| 5 |
Indian Premier League (cricket) |
1.45 |
| 6 |
MLB |
1.43 |
| 7 |
MotoGP |
1.40 |
| 8 |
La Liga Santander (Spain) |
1.33 |
| 9 |
Formula One |
1.29 |
| 10 |
World Surf League |
1.28 |
| 11 |
NHL |
1.27 |
| 12 |
International Cricket Council |
1.23 |
| 13 |
UFC |
1.16 |
| 14 |
USA Gymnastics |
1.06 |
| 15 |
FIFA World Cup |
1.05 |
| 16 |
U.S. Soccer |
0.92 |
| 17 |
Street League Skateboarding |
0.90 |
| 18 |
Supercross |
0.88 |
| 19 |
Bundesliga |
0.86 |
| 20 (tie) |
ATP Tour |
0.84 |
| 20 (tie) |
USA Basketball |
0.84 |
| 22 |
ONE Championship (Singapore-based MMA) |
0.82 |
| 23 (tie) |
Italian Serie A |
0.80 |
| 23 (tie) |
PGA Tour |
0.80 |
| 25 |
USA Swimming |
0.78 |
|
| Rank |
Team |
Composite score |
| 1 |
Real Madrid |
5.40 |
| 2 |
Barcelona |
3.79 |
| 3 |
Manchester United |
2.92 |
| 4 |
Chelsea |
2.11 |
| 5 |
Golden State Warriors |
1.84 |
| 6 |
Arsenal |
1.83 |
| 7 |
India men’s national cricket team |
1.63 |
| 8 |
Bayern Munich |
1.51 |
| 9 |
Liverpool |
1.47 |
| 10 |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
1.42 |
| 11 |
New England Patriots |
1.38 |
| 12 |
Juventus |
1.34 |
| 13 |
Borussia Dortmund |
1.31 |
| 14 |
Manchester City |
1.29 |
| 15 (tie) |
Dallas Cowboys |
1.25 |
| 15 (tie) |
Besiktas (Turkish soccer) |
1.25 |
| 17 |
France men’s national soccer team |
1.22 |
| 18 |
AC Milan |
1.20 |
| 19 |
Chicago Cubs |
1.19 |
| 20 |
Mumbai Indians (cricket) |
1.18 |
| 21 |
Chicago Bulls |
1.17 |
| 22 |
Galatasaray (Turkish soccer) |
1.16 |
| 23 (tie) |
Fenerbahce (Turkish soccer) |
1.14 |
| 23 (tie) |
Paris Saint-Germain |
1.14 |
| 25 |
Los Angeles Lakers |
1.11 |
|
Most interactions and views
| Rank |
Property/team |
Total interactions, video views |
| 1 |
NBA |
7,678,772,267 |
| 2 |
NFL |
3,509,746,696 |
| 3 |
Real Madrid |
2,722,114,361 |
| 4 |
Manchester United |
2,664,454,811 |
| 5 |
Barcelona |
2,341,042,823 |
| 6 |
World Surf League |
1,706,610,996 |
| 7 |
IOC |
1,385,423,614 |
| 8 |
MLB |
1,217,586,354 |
| 9 |
Golden State Warriors |
1,019,017,974 |
| 10 |
Arsenal |
1,004,299,267 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
Posts |
| 1 |
Ecuador men’s soccer team |
44,086 |
| 2 |
NFL |
36,888 |
| 3 |
NBA |
34,188 |
| 4 |
Vélez Sarsfield (Argentine soccer) |
30,202 |
| 5 |
NHL |
28,278 |
| 6 |
PGA Tour |
27,386 |
| 7 |
Monterrey (Mexican soccer) |
23,047 |
| 8 |
NASCAR |
22,112 |
| 9 |
MLS |
21,871 |
| 10 |
MLB |
21,557 |
|
Most interactions per post
| Rank |
Property/team |
Interactions per post |
| 1 |
Real Madrid |
118,688 |
| 2 |
Barcelona |
78,035 |
| 3 |
Manchester United |
51,180 |
| 4 |
India men’s national cricket team |
37,280 |
| 5 |
NBA |
30,272 |
| 6 |
English Premier League |
25,891 |
| 7 |
Golden State Warriors |
23,219 |
| 8 |
Chelsea |
22,364 |
| 9 |
Bayern Munich |
22,323 |
| 10 |
Arsenal |
21,502 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
Followers |
| 1 |
Real Madrid |
177,953,982 |
| 2 |
Barcelona |
174,300,600 |
| 3 |
Manchester United |
102,805,279 |
| 4 |
NBA |
82,349,549 |
| 5 |
English Premier League |
66,935,354 |
| 6 |
Chelsea |
66,202,710 |
| 7 |
Arsenal |
57,671,145 |
| 8 |
Bayern Munich |
55,945,650 |
| 9 |
FIFA World Cup |
49,549,043 |
| 10 |
NFL |
49,302,124 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
New followers added, past 12 months |
| 1 |
Real Madrid |
36,073,054 |
| 2 |
Barcelona |
29,141,416 |
| 3 |
NBA |
14,668,746 |
| 4 |
Manchester United |
14,281,311 |
| 5 |
IOC |
10,527,666 |
| 6 |
NFL |
10,151,283 |
| 7 |
Club America (Liga MX) |
10,093,742 |
| 8 |
Juventus |
9,972,356 |
| 9 |
English Premier League |
9,595,407 |
| 10 |
Bayern Munich |
9,054,259 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
Total shares |
| 1 |
NBA |
26,065,918 |
| 2 |
NFL |
22,333,636 |
| 3 |
Manchester United |
19,823,861 |
| 4 |
Real Madrid |
18,668,192 |
| 5 |
Golden State Warriors |
12,445,628 |
| 6 |
Barcelona |
12,096,766 |
| 7 |
World Surf League |
11,398,740 |
| 8 |
Dallas Cowboys |
10,831,269 |
| 9 |
Chelsea |
10,129,256 |
| 10 |
Chicago Cubs |
9,891,217 |
|
| Rank |
Property |
Composite score |
| 1 |
NBA |
2.48 |
| 2 |
NFL |
1.81 |
| 3 |
MLB |
1.43 |
| 4 |
World Surf League |
1.28 |
| 5 |
NHL |
1.27 |
| 6 |
UFC |
1.16 |
| 7 |
USA Gymnastics |
1.06 |
| 8 |
U.S. Soccer |
0.92 |
| 9 |
Street League Skateboarding |
0.90 |
| 10 |
Supercross |
0.88 |
| 11 |
USA Basketball |
0.84 |
| 12 |
PGA Tour |
0.80 |
| 13 |
USA Swimming |
0.78 |
| 14 |
USA Volleyball |
0.76 |
| 15 (tie) |
MLS |
0.73 |
| 15 (tie) |
Professional Bull Riders |
0.73 |
| 17 (tie) |
NASCAR |
0.70 |
| 17 (tie) |
WTA Tour |
0.70 |
| 19 |
WNBA |
0.66 |
| 20 (tie) |
USA Track & Field |
0.65 |
| 20 (tie) |
USA Wrestling |
0.65 |
| 22 |
USA Baseball |
0.64 |
| 23 (tie) |
Lucas Oil Pro Motocross |
0.63 |
| 23 (tie) |
NHRA |
0.63 |
| 25 |
Monster Jam |
0.61 |
| 26 |
USA Softball |
0.60 |
|
| Rank |
Team |
Composite score |
| 1 |
Golden State Warriors |
1.81 |
| 2 |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
1.40 |
| 3 |
New England Patriots |
1.38 |
| 4 |
Dallas Cowboys |
1.25 |
| 5 (tie) |
Chicago Cubs |
1.18 |
| 5 (tie) |
Chicago Bulls |
1.18 |
| 7 |
Los Angeles Lakers |
1.12 |
| 8 (tie) |
San Antonio Spurs |
1.04 |
| 8 (tie) |
Seattle Seahawks |
1.04 |
| 8 (tie) |
New York Yankees |
1.04 |
| 11 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
1.03 |
| 12 |
Green Bay Packers |
1.00 |
| 13 |
U.S. women’s national soccer |
0.99 |
| 14 |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
0.98 |
| 15 |
Chicago Blackhawks |
0.96 |
| 16 (tie) |
San Francisco Giants |
0.94 |
| 16 (tie) |
Pittsburgh Penguins |
0.94 |
| 16 (tie) |
Boston Red Sox |
0.94 |
| 16 (tie) |
Carolina Panthers |
0.94 |
| 20 |
Oakland Raiders |
0.93 |
| 21 |
Boston Celtics |
0.92 |
| 22 (tie) |
New York Giants |
0.91 |
| 22 (tie) |
Toronto Blue Jays |
0.91 |
| 24 |
Houston Rockets |
0.90 |
| 25 |
Oklahoma City Thunder |
0.89 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
Total interactions, video views |
| 1 |
NBA |
7,678,772,267 |
| 2 |
NFL |
3,509,746,696 |
| 3 |
World Surf League |
1,706,610,996 |
| 4 |
MLB |
1,217,586,354 |
| 5 |
Golden State Warriors |
1,019,017,974 |
| 6 |
NHL |
940,435,718 |
| 7 |
UFC |
679,301,066 |
| 8 |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
674,350,727 |
| 9 |
PGA Tour |
554,730,839 |
| 10 |
Chicago Cubs |
441,525,440 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
Posts |
| 1 |
NFL |
36,888 |
| 2 |
NBA |
34,188 |
| 3 |
NHL |
28,278 |
| 4 |
PGA Tour |
27,386 |
| 5 |
NASCAR |
22,112 |
| 6 |
MLS |
21,871 |
| 7 |
MLB |
21,557 |
| 8 |
Colorado Rockies |
20,804 |
| 9 |
San Diego Padres |
19,993 |
| 10 |
Seattle Mariners |
19,952 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
Interactions per post |
| 1 |
NBA |
30,226 |
| 2 |
Golden State Warriors |
23,219 |
| 3 |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
19,114 |
| 4 |
NFL |
17,475 |
| 5 |
MLB |
13,108 |
| 6 |
New England Patriots |
12,716 |
| 7 |
World Surf League |
11,106 |
| 8 |
Dallas Cowboys |
10,562 |
| 9 |
Chicago Bulls |
10,366 |
| 10 |
U.S. women’s national soccer team |
9,525 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
Followers |
| 1 |
NBA |
82,349,549 |
| 2 |
NFL |
49,302,124 |
| 3 |
UFC |
35,098,235 |
| 4 |
Los Angeles Lakers |
31,746,260 |
| 5 |
Chicago Bulls |
25,696,899 |
| 6 |
Miami Heat |
23,299,666 |
| 7 |
Golden State Warriors |
21,240,657 |
| 8 |
MLB |
17,780,396 |
| 9 |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
15,551,972 |
| 10 |
Dallas Cowboys |
14,108,473 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
New followers added, past 12 months |
| 1 |
NBA |
14,668,746 |
| 2 |
NFL |
10,151,283 |
| 3 |
Golden State Warriors |
7,308,158 |
| 4 |
UFC |
6,736,300 |
| 5 |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
5,966,438 |
| 6 |
Houston Rockets |
3,729,707 |
| 7 |
World Surf League |
2,775,159 |
| 8 |
MLB |
2,774,220 |
| 9 |
Oklahoma City Thunder |
2,598,469 |
| 10 |
Dallas Cowboys |
2,376,479 |
|
| Rank |
Property/team |
Total shares |
| 1 |
NBA |
26,065,918 |
| 2 |
NFL |
22,333,636 |
| 3 |
Golden State Warriors |
12,445,628 |
| 4 |
World Surf League |
11,398,740 |
| 5 |
Dallas Cowboys |
10,831,269 |
| 6 |
Chicago Cubs |
9,891,217 |
| 7 |
MLB |
8,868,097 |
| 8 |
Cleveland Cavaliers |
8,186,369 |
| 9 |
New England Patriots |
7,003,098 |
| 10 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
6,255,319 |
|
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