NBA players and their teams are consistently some of the strongest in the world on social. Thanks in large part to a combination of star power and quality content, these athletes build massive audiences and drive engagement that tops North American sports.
While many leagues are embracing the value of athlete-driven social strategies, few have done it better than the NBA. The league’s innovative philosophy embraces online media, encouraging the teams and players to share game highlights straight to their feeds. This position has established a mutually beneficial situation for the game, its teams, and the players themselves.
This report — focused on the performance of NBA players grouped by their respective teams — shows how star power, up-and-coming talent, and consistent activity can impact an entire team’s performance on social.
Teams with the highest totals for athlete audience size, engagements, and video views are largely led by some of the sport’s biggest stars — LeBron with the Lakers, Golden State’s “big four,” and Houston’s James Harden-Chris Paul tandem all drive big results.
The Nets lack a large player audience size, but their league-leading activity level plays a significant role in earning the NBA’s highest athlete engagement rate at almost 9 percent. Meanwhile, Philadelphia and Boston are climbing almost every chart, being powered by their rapidly growing young talent.
While the NBA is already an industry leader, more innovation is sure to come. That means more streaming options, more personalized experiences for fans, and more athlete-driven content going straight from the floor to your favorite players’ feeds.
“To blessed to be stressed”#whynotpic.twitter.com/EOECxdfi4x
— Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) December 30, 2018
The NBA's top athlete-driven teams
Below is our NBA team ranking based on the players’ performance on social. The analysis includes Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter data for all active NBA players from September 18, 2018 to January 11, 2019.
