Twitter and Sports - A Match Made in Heaven

If sports fans are passionate about one thing, it's sharing their excitement, disappointment, and unfiltered opinions when it comes to their favorite teams, and there is nothing quite like social media for providing the perfect outlet for that vocal sentiment.  Nielsen is out with their latest report, a social study detailing how sports fans and Twitter correlate when it comes to the biggest sporting events in September 2013 through February 2014.  The study analyzed Twitter conversations around the top 10 televised sporting events and some results of the study can be found here.  I've combed through the information to bring you some of the most interesting results.

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• During 2010, 50% of TV related tweets in the United States (492 million in total) were about sports events.  
• Out of the 20 most-tweeted television airings, 12 were sporting events.
• The average Twitter user sees 9 television series episode tweets, 25 televised special events tweets, and 32 televised sporting event tweets per event/episode.
• The biggest Twitter television audiences:
• The Super Bowl took top honors, bringing in over 25 million tweets with 15.3 million people seeing tweets about the event!
• The NFC Championship had just shy of 5 million related tweets, reaching 11.3 million people
• The AFC Championship had a smaller amount of tweets clocking in at 2.9 million, but saw those tweets reaching 10.8 million Twitter users
•  Not to be overshadowed by the NFL, college football held it's own in the top five with the BCS National Championship bringing in over 4 million related tweets with 10.4 million people viewing them.
• Rounding out the top five was the Olympics coverage with the opening ceremony, a visually exciting experience, generating 1.1 million tweets seen by a global Twitter audience of 9.5 million people.

The high level of engagement around sports and social conversations should highlight social media as a tool for advertisers, companies, and community initiatives to find a host of opportunities. Whether it's developing brand recognition, providing superior customer service and valued content to the consumer, or highlighting messages for amplification across various screens to new audiences, the future is rife with prospects for success.  The question remains, who will take advantage?

 

The Top 5 Olympic Athletes Winning at Social Media

Photo: thenickpantsshow.tumblr.com/

With Olympic fever well underway and all eyes on Sochi this week, social media has been abuzz both with excited fans and a wealth of new Russian experiences.  According to topsy.com’s Twitter data, in the last 7 days, the hashtag #sochi2014 has brought in over 2.2 million tweets and that number is rising by the second.  So I thought it would be interesting to look at the athletes who are not just medaling on the podium, but in the world of social media as well, building their fan bases and personal brands at a time when the world is most captivated in their sports.  

1.     Shaun White – The two-time gold medal reigning champion snowboarder failed to bring home the grand prize this time around, but for a man who has crafted a brand so large he has over 1.3 million Twitter followers and become the poster boy for his sport, even on a night in which he’d wipeout and place 4^th overall, his event would rake in an average of 23.6 million viewers, up 16% from the 2010 Games (Los Angeles Times).   His name alone has generated over 200,000 tweets in the past week (topsy.com) and out of all the athletes that came into the Olympics with strong followers the Flying Tomato is my favorite, as everyone seems to have a comment or opinion to make about him and his unique style.  He might also be the only athlete who can pull out of an event (slopestyle) and actually increase his Twitter followers (another 10,000). While his Twitter has gone a little dark since the Olympic loss, he was nice enough to share a video before his event even took place, thanking his fans for supporting him along the way, as can be seen on his page at: twitter.com/shaun_white

2.     Johnny Quinn – Johnny’s headline making in the past week has been all about his athletic skill, but more often than not he's showing off those skills in his Russian hotel rather than his bobsled.  The so called #sochiproblems have blanketed the web with over 300,000 tweets (topsy.com) addressing everything from contaminated water to improvised bathrooms over the past two weeks, and Johnny Quinn took to his Twitter account to drum up a unique situation.  He tweeted out a picture showing the world the remnants of a bathroom door he had punched his way through after been locked inside, and cited his bobsled training as providing him with the tools to break free. His tweet went viral with over 30,000 re-tweets and appearances on all the major news outlets.  Two days later he’d find himself trapped again, only this time inside an elevator.  You can join his 25,000 new fans and follow the charismatic star thru his daring escapes, and maybe a little actual bobsledding at: twitter.com/JohnnyQuinnUSA

3.     Ashley Wagner – If there were crowns for the queen of memes, the summer Olympics’ McKayla Maroney might have to step down for the newest addition to the throne, winter’s ice queen Ashley Wagner.  Wagner’s shocked/angry/annoyed facial expression after receiving a lower score than expected during a figure skating competition set off like fire around social media with her expression added to a variety of memes on every subject matter.  Over 20,000 tweets later, Ashley’s twitter following at: twitter.com/AshWagner2010 has grown to over 55,000, and she has handed her new-found fame off the rink like the pro she is on it.  Her presence on Twitter is filled with a lighthearted humor surrounding the judging and finding fun in the unimpressed facial expression and the parodies surrounding it, despite a serious time in her skating career.  More active on Instagram, Ashley has developed a social media presence with a youthful energy behind the scenes at the Games, and gives audiences a chance to connect with the young star before tuning into to see how she’ll do, and perhaps more interestingly, how she’ll react, in the next competition.

4.     Julia Mancuso – With Lindsay Vonn out of the winter Olympics this year, Julia Mancuso has been looking to fill in as America’s sweetheart.  Julia has been one of the most active Olympic Twitter users, sharing constant tweets both during her travels to Sochi and during her training regime, but also finding the time to comment on the successes of other athletes.  Rather than letting her channels go dark after failing to take home a medal Wednesday in the downhill competition, Julia actually took to the web offering glimpses into how she deals with defeat.  Balancing her social media channels of heavily used Instagram and Twitter, both topping off at well over 55,000 followers, with an even mix of personal anecdotes and sponsorship/interview promotions, Julia has what it takes to develop a personal brand and household name that lives on long after the Games have left Sochi.  Find the rest of her views from the Olympic deck at: twitter.com/JuliaMancuso

5.     Bob Costas – So he’s not technically an Olympic athlete, but sports personality Bob Costas has become the story of the Olympics without having ever competed.  The star broadcaster has hosted 157 consecutive Olympic prime-time broadcasts going all the way back to 1988, that is until this week when a terrible pink eye infection forced him out of his coveted seat.  Every Olympics has a story and, going into this one, many were focused on the threat of terrorism, the gay right protests, or the poor accommodations, but it seems one legendary broadcaster’s deteriorating eyes have taken over.  Costas tried to go into work, switching to studious glasses, and even taking a drink on air to ease the problem, but eventually had to vacate his seat until his health improved, despite his determined work ethic.  Costas doesn’t even have a Twitter, but with 131,000 tweets about him this week alone, his career is in the spotlight, and so are those eyes.  And if you really need an update, his eyes do have their own Twitter following at: twitter.com/BobCostasEyes