When it comes to tennis, Federer, Djokovic and Nadal compete for the most Instagram followers, while Andy Murray distant fourth worldwide, according to new research.
The study, from Iconosquare, the social media analytics platform, stems from a Wimbledon Instagram influencer league table, ranking the top-seeded male and female players on Instagram.
The key findings are as follows:
• Federer, Djokovic and Nadal compete for the most Instagram followers; Murray distant fourth
• Fastest-growing Instagram followings over Wimbledon included semifinalists Marin Cilic, Sam Querrey and Johanna Konta
Iconosquare used its proprietary technology to measure the follower count and growth rate of the 32 male and female players from 25 June to 13 July.
The top ten are:
Federer has been having a better Championship than Djokovic when it comes to Instagram: having started Wimbledon with fewer followers than Djokovic, Federer, who has won a record eighteen Grand Slam titles, surged ahead and put 15,000 followers between him and his rival.
Caroline Wozniacki, the most followed female player, trailed behind Murray in her follower count, and the top ten women players generally had fewer followers than their male counterparts.
Semi-finalists Cilic, Querrey and Konta were the surprises of the season, experiencing double-digits follower growth over the Championships. The top five fastest growing Instagram followings are below:
Men’s:
• Marin Cilic – 53.6% growth, current count 8492
• Sam Querrey – 16.7% growth, current count 22,909
• Mischa Verev – 14.0% growth, current count 546
• Karen Khachanov – 10.0% growth, current count 21,317
• Andy Murray – 3.3% growth
Women’s:
• Johanna Konta – 36% growth, current count 69,238
• Jelena Ostapenko – 13.7% growth, current count 105,876
• Ana Konjuh – 8.2% growth, current count 27,098
• Coco Vandeweghe – 8.1% growth, current count 38,186
• Anastasija Sevastova – 4.6% growth, current count 4457
Romain Ouzeau, CEO of Iconosquare, comments, “Social media is often surprisingly good at predicting success and failure. With over 700 million monthly active users, Instagram is an excellent platform to crowdsource predictions.”
“Social media is a vital tool for professional sports players, helping them stay in touch with their loyal fans and build up their personal brands.”