Thematic Intelligence - Social Media in Sport 2024 Summary An analysis of social media in sport which provides a detailed, yet easy to follow overview of a very important topic in the sport industry. The report will take a look at the key leaders in the industry and a detailed analysis of the social media in sport value chain. Social media’s ad-funded business model is under threat Social media companies will increasingly diversify away from their ad-funded business model in the face of increased regulatory scrutiny. In 2023 alone, Alphabet, Amazon, ByteDance, and Meta were fined a combined $7.7 billion for breaching data privacy laws over their ad-targeting practices. Companies aim to protect their social media innovations Many companies operating in the golf sector including Nike, GolfPay and Par Points Golf across 2023 and 2024 have submitted patent applications for products and software involved in the social media theme. Securing a patent ensures that companies are in position to develop products which can give them a competitive advantage against competitors within their industry. Major sport properties generate huge social media followings. Many of the most globally popular and teams and sports leagues such as Real Madrid and the NBA have developed substantial social media followings. In September 2023 Real Madrid were the first sports club in the world to reach 500 million followers across their numerous social media accounts on various platforms. Outstripping this achievement, across the 2022/23 season the NBA generated record-breaking figures as 32 billion views were amassed across all NBA and NBA-related social media accounts. The basketball league continues to successfully promote its stars, with top players becoming global sporting icons such as LeBron James and Stephen Curry. Leading companies Below, we identify the leading companies in six categories of social media - - Social networks: Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Tencent (WeChat), X (formerly Twitter), ByteDance (TikTok, Douyin). - Discussion forums: Reddit, Quora, Stack Overflow, Baidu Tieba, India Forums, Kaskus, XDA Developers, Zhihu. - Media sharing sites: ByteDance (TikTok), Meta (Instagram), Alphabet (YouTube), Amazon (Twitch), Snap (Snapchat.) - Consumer review networks: TripAdvisor, Amazon, Yelp, Zomato, Alibaba, GameSpot, Foursquare. - Sharing economy companies: Uber, Airbnb, Grab, BlaBlaCar, Kickstarter, Lyft, TaskRabbit, WeWork. - Messaging services: Apple, Meta (Messenger, WhatsApp), Tencent (WeChat), Microsoft (Skype, Teams). Key Highlights - A detailed overview of the key sport property leaders in the social media space. An industry analysis of the social media market size and predicted growth forecast is provided in the report. The report also provides an in-depth analysis of the social media in sport value chain. Scope - This report provides an overview of social media in sport, including the key leaders and key trends across the theme. An analysis of the impact of social media is provided as well as the growth potential of social media. Reasons to Buy - For those wanting an in-depth analysis of social media in sport.
- Executive Summary
- Players
- Thematic Briefing
- The blurred boundaries of social media
- Online advertising generates the bulk of the social media industry’s revenues.
- Social media must differentiate to compete
- Network effects can be a barrier to entry
- Decentralized apps are rising while super-apps are falling
- Trends
- Technology trends
- Macroeconomic trends
- Regulatory trends
- Timeline
- The Impact of Social Media on Sport
- Signals
- M&A trends
- Patent trends
- Company filing trends
- Hiring trends
- Value Chain
- Content layer
- Consumer profile data
- User-generated content
- News
- Film and TV
- Games
- Distribution layer
- Social networks
- Discussion forums
- Media sharing sites
- Consumer review networks
- Sharing economy companies
- Messaging services
- Data layer
- Data integration
- Data aggregation
- Data processing
- Data storage
- Data validation
- Data governance and security
- Services layer
- Internet advertising
- Online payments
- Ecommerce
- Customer layer
- Consumers
- Brands
- Influencers
- Companies
- Public companies
- Private companies
- Sport properties
- Sector Scorecards
- Sporting federations sector scorecard
- Who’s who
- Thematic screen
- Sporting sponsor brands sector scorecard
- Who’s who
- Thematic screen
- Valuation screen
- Risk screen
- Glossary
- Further Reading
- GlobalData reports
- Our Thematic Research Methodology
- About GlobalData
- Contact Us
- List of Tables
- Table 1: Technology trends
- Table 2: Macroeconomic trends
- Table 3: Regulatory trends
- Table 4: Key M&A transactions associated with the social media theme in the last three years
- Table 5: Public companies
- Table 6: Private companies
- Table 7: Sport properties
- Table 8: Glossary
- Table 9: GlobalData reports
- List of Figures
- Figure 1: Who are the leading players in the social media theme, and where do they sit in the value chain?
- Figure 2: Social media use has proliferated since 2010
- Figure 3: The social media business model relies on harvesting customer data to target ads
- Figure 4: The social media story
- Figure 5: A declining number of patents have been filed since 2020
- Figure 6: Mentions of social media in company filings peaked in 2021
- Figure 7:Social media related hiring in the sport sector, Jan 2020 – Dec 2023
- Figure 8: The social media value chain
- Figure 9: The social media value chain - Content layer
- Figure 10: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Social networks
- Figure 11: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Discussion forums
- Figure 12: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Media sharing sites
- Figure 13: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Consumer review networks
- Figure 14: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Sharing economy companies
- Figure 15: The social media value chain - Distribution layer: Messaging services
- Figure 16: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data integration
- Figure 17: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data aggregation
- Figure 18: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data processing
- Figure 19: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data storage
- Figure 20: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data validation
- Figure 21: The social media value chain - Data layer: Data governance and security
- Figure 22: The social media value chain - Services layer: Internet advertising
- Figure 23: The social media value chain - Services layer: Online payments
- Figure 24: The social media value chain - Services layer: Ecommerce
- Figure 25: Who does what in the sporting federations space?
- Figure 26: Thematic screen - Sporting federations sector scorecard
- Figure 27: Who does what in the sporting sponsor brands space?
- Figure 28: Thematic screen
- Figure 29: Valuation screen
- Figure 30: Risk screen
- Figure 31: Our five-step approach for generating a sector scorecard
Research Assistance
Learn how to effectively navigate the market research process to help guide your organization on the journey to success.
Download eBook