With 140.6 million followers across platforms, LaLiga leads all domestic football leagues.
The follower count has grown significantly from the aggregate of 3.9 million in 2013, when Javier Tebas assumed the LaLiga presidency.
LaLiga’s sustained and speedy growth on social media has been recognised in the latest KPMG Football Benchmark report, which has calculated that LaLiga is the third most followed sports competition in the world and the most followed domestic football league of all, ahead of each of the other major European leagues.
KPMG Football Benchmark calculated the aggregate followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Weibo for all sports competitions, with only the NBA (214.3 million followers) and the UEFA Champions League (211.4 million followers) ranking ahead of LaLiga (140.6 million followers). The rest of the top 10 is made up of the Premier League in fourth, FIFA World Cup in fifth, NFL in sixth, Formula 1 in seventh, ONE Championship in eighth, UEFA Europa League in ninth and Indian Premier League in 10th.
This is an outstanding achievement for LaLiga, with the competition’s follower count growing consistently in recent years. Back in 2013/14, the first full season with Javier Tebas as president of the organisation, LaLiga’s aggregate follower count was just 3.9 million. With time and resources put into the competition’s social media platforms, this tally grew and grew, breaking the 100 million barrier in 2019/20 and now sitting even higher, at 140.6 million followers across the six platforms included in this recent study.
There are various explanations for LaLiga’s success on social media. The key factor has been the ‘glocal’ approach, through which every new country or profile is curated carefully according to local trends and built gradually by regional experts. Currently, LaLiga is posting in more than 20 languages across 17 different social media platforms, meaning Spanish football can be discussed online from all corners of the world.
LaLiga has a significant presence on Facebook, with more than 75 million followers on that network alone, while it was also one of the first European leagues to launch a TikTok account, even agreeing a collaboration partnership with that platform back in 2019.
As LaLiga’s social media follower count continues to grow, the organisation is also working with its 42 member clubs across LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank to help them expand their social media offerings too. According to data from Blinkfire Analytics, the 42 clubs combined for more than 600 million followers between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube by the midway point of 2021.
By focusing on fan engagement and by working with the ‘glocal’ approach, LaLiga and the 42 clubs have been able to continue growing their online presence even during the coronavirus pandemic. This growth is expected to continue, especially since several clubs plan to use the money from the Boost LaLiga (LaLiga Impulso) project to invest in content development plans for their digital platforms and for their social media.
This article originally appeared LaLiga’s Global Futbol newsletter.
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