As the 2014 NFL season kicks off, a storyline that hasn't fully developed waits to unfold: The role of the league's popularity in Europe. The 2014 season will see three regular season NFL games being played in the United Kingdom, marking the most NFL games ever played there in one regular season. The decision to increase the number of International Series games to three in 2014 comes after the league has seen significant growth recently in its popularity in the United Kingdom. According to the NFL, over 12 million people in the United Kingdom consider themselves NFL fans. This number marks a 30-percent increase in UK fans over the last two years.
Before teams make their way to the United Kingdom for their 2014 games, is there a way for the NFL to track its growing number of fans in the country? One way may be through social media. Adobe Digital Index's senior analyst, Joe Martin, spent the last six weeks analyzing over 15-million social mentions related to the NFL and college football using Adobe Social. From his research, Martin not only found that the NFL generates more social media mentions than the NBA, MLB or college football, but that it has a strong international social media presence. According to Martin's research, 21-percent of the social media mentions related to the NFL and its teams come from international social media users.
What might turn some NFL owners' heads about the social media posts made by those outside of the United States is the team they most often post about. According to Martin's research, people in the United Kingdom talk about the New York Giants the most on social media. Not only that, but Martin also found that the Giants are the most talked about team by international social media users, accounting for 36-percent of all international NFL-related mentions. This finding may raise a few eyebrows amongst NFL owners, as the Giants haven't played in an International Series game since 2007, when they beat the Miami Dolphins in the UK's Wembley Stadium.
With 21-percent of social media mentions related to the NFL and its teams coming from outside of the United States, there is an important message being sent to marketers: There is value to be derived in investing in NFL-related sponsorships outside of the United States. To understand the value, teams should look at the percentage of social media messages being sent about them that come from outside of the United States. Doing so will allow teams to analyze whether partnering with international companies on sponsorships would be a worthwhile investment. For instance, if a significant percentage of social media posts regarding the team comes from outside of the U.S., a team can recognize that it has a growing international fan base. Investing in partnerships with corporations in locales with the greatest number of international fans will allow teams to foster that growing fan base. Similarly, international corporations should study their home market to determine which NFL teams are generating the most social media mentions and consider partnering with those teams on sponsorships. "Marketers should be looking at this as an opportunity to reach fans of these teams through sponsorships and sports-related marketing efforts. Additionally, if you are a global marketer, look at the popular teams in other countries because the fans overseas could be another opportunity for both engagement and long-lasting loyalty," Martin noted.
While the NFL's international social media influence is strong and growing, Martin is quick to temper it. Notably, Martin points out that Real Madrid received 2.2 million social media mentions in the last month. This number is 14-times greater than the number related to the New York Giants. "The number of mentions the NFL and its teams received was still far behind World Cup mentions," Martin explained. However, with nearly one-fourth of the NFL's mentions coming from outside of the United States, it is clear that the love of people for NFL football is spanning the world.
