The Summer of Ovi has come to the end and the NHL is officially back in our lives.
Throughout the offseason, several of hockey’s top players took to social to further establish their brands beyond the ice. The biggest winners were Caps players, specifically Ovechkin and TJ Oshie, who captured the momentum of their Stanley Cup win and shared the experience with their audience.
As a whole, the NHL’s stars are outpaced by their peers in major sports including the PGA TOUR and NFL in terms of audience size, activity, total engagements, and growth. However, NHL players have one of the most actively engaged audiences in sports. Hockey fans love to interact with their favorite players, but that content can be few too few and far between.
That may be about to change in a big way. Last season, the New Jersey Devils adopted an athlete-driven strategy that produced league-leading success for the team and its players. As more teams follow suit, and players like Ovechkin, Oshie, and Taylor Hall show a commitment to giving their fans more access, look for hockey to climb the ladder for athlete-driven performance on social.
The NHL’s athlete-driven MVPs
Below is the performance analysis for the NHL’s 25 most-followed players on social. We break down the data by audience, activity, engagement, and growth on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram from June 8, 2018, to October 2, 2018.
These are the NHL’s strongest brands on social.
Audience
Activity
Engagement
Engagement Rate
*min 16 posts (1/week)
