Competition For Fans’ Attention Doesn't End With The Final Whistle

European football fans’ obsession with their favourite teams overwhelmingly extended to social media during the ’21-’22 season according to a new report from Conviva.

For its 2022 European Football Social Report, Conviva analysed and ranked the social media performance for the top 130 teams across Europe’s six biggest football leagues to understand who is dominating engagement and what strategies are winning on social.

“The ’21- ’22 European Football season was full of exciting transfers, upsets and intense finals that, in turn, drove high social media engagement across teams and leagues throughout the season,” said Nick Cicero, VP of Strategy, Conviva.

“It’s clear that European teams and leagues recognise the value of social media and are applying their competitive mindsets to winning fans over on social in addition to on the field.

“However, as more and more teams flock to social to build their brands and expand their fanbases, the competition for fans’ attention has only gotten more intense and we expect that trend to continue next season as well.”

While the top European football teams were active across all social media platforms, Twitter saw the highest post volume for the ‘21-‘22 season. However, Instagram completely dominated other social platforms when it came to engagement, accounting for an astounding 82% of all post engagements and 74% of all video engagements across all leagues and clubs.

Additional key findings from Conviva’s 2022 European Football Social Report include:

TikTok is Taking Over – TikTok exploded in popularity during the ’21-’22 season, with most teams and leagues increasing their activity on the platform.

Leaning into Video – Across platforms, the evidence is clear: video content is #1. Video content draws viewers in and drives higher engagement rates, especially on platforms like TikTok that are video-first. Even on text heavy platforms like Twitter, video content garnered more engagements per post than static content.

Content Experimentation and Expansion – While teams used to primarily post highlights, score updates, and other traditional content, that formula no longer works for teams looking to boost engagement. This season saw clubs experiment with memes, behind-the-scenes content, player spotlights and other unique formats to stand out from the crowd.

Manchester United & PSG Lead on all fronts – Two of football’s biggest teams saw immense social media success this season. Both clubs dominated in audience size and engagement for their respective leagues. Some of that could be contributed to their respective acquisition of the sports top two players: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.