The 2016 social media and olympic sport ranking (2016)

Burson-Marsteller and TSE Consulting have analysed the social media footprint of the IOC and its 35 international sports federations, as well as of their presidents and leading executives. This includes 62 institutional Twitter accounts, 50 Facebook pages, 40 Instagram accounts and 43 YouTube channels, as well as 14 personal Twitter accounts of the heads of international sports federations. The analysis, conducted in November 2016, shows which sports have the largest social media fan base, namely football and basketball, as well as those sports which have a small fan base, but enjoy a strong social media presence, namely judo, triathlon and table tennis. The analysis also looked at the effectiveness of the social media engagement, in particular which organisations garner the most shares per post. By reviewing the data, the researchers hope this study can help these organisations make the most of their social media presence in the future. Data for each social media account was collected on 1 November 2016 using Burson-Marsteller’s proprietary Burson Tools. For the purpose of this study, they only provide the top 10 results in each category, but the complete rankings and full data set are available on demand.