NBA Sees Big Increases In Social Media, Brand Value In '18-19

A new report by MVPindex shows the NBA’s last season brought notable increases in the league’s social media footprint and in brand value. The report shows a 132% increase in the NBA’s collective social media footprint during the '18-19 campaign, with league and team accounts collectively generating more than $1.1B of value for brand partners, up 20% from $921M the '17-18 season. By comparison, the NFL last season generated $343M in brand value, the second-highest social media value among the top leagues, according to the report. Among the various social media platforms, Instagram proved most valuable to brands, generating about 90% of the total brand value while accounting for only 10% of the NBA's total social media content. The team with the most social media engagement was the Warriors with 291 million social media engagements, followed by the Lakers with 147 million. Engagements are typically defined as likes, shares, comments, re-posts or re-tweets. The NBA patch program is also driving activations, with seven team patch partners among the top 25 of the league’s top social media activations. “The smart teams are activating around moments along with scores and highlights,” said MVPindex co-Founder & CMO Kyle Nelson. “It's wrapping around moments and wrapping brands into engagements. The league is increasing video and cultural content.” MVPindex analyzed all league and team content across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube from Oct. 1, 2018, through June 14, 2019.

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