Cristiano Ronaldo’s popularity on Facebook is so vast and profitable that any post on his social media website is worth $143,750 to the brand he endorses.
This means that the Real Madrid player is now the top sport’s endorser on Facebook.
According to research conducted by Repucom, via Bloomberg , a German-based consultancy firm, because of Ronaldo’s social media presence and fan engagement, anything that he posts on Facebook is worth this gargantuan sum in advertising for the brand in question.
This means that his endorsements are allegedly worth twice as much as Lionel Messi’s. The Barcelona forward’s posts are worth about an average of $62,500.
Max Barnett, who works as the head of digital in the United Kingdom for Repucom, has explained that soccer stars are now using social media so that they can then demand bigger endorsement deals from companies.
When it comes to popularity on Facebook, Barnett explained, “Ronaldo is king.”
It’s believed that Ronaldo has around five or six people working on his social media personality, while Lionel Messi is also thought to have a small team working on his too.
At the moment Ronaldo is clearly coming out on top though becuase he has 102.5 million Facebook followers in comparison to Messi’s measly 75.7 million. The fact that Ronaldo also has more comments and likes on his posts means that the valuation of each post is increased too.
Meanwhile Barnett admitted that Ronaldo’s social media profile has ingeniously been created and he declared that it was much more sophisticated than many of his contemporaries.
“If players are serious about monetizing their fan base they have to tread a narrow path between sponsor logos and behind-the-scenes access of life as an athlete,” according to Barnett.
Because of these various successes, Ronaldo is thought to earn around $22.5 million a year in endorsement deals. This includes receiving payments from the likes of Nike, Emirates, and Tag Heur. Lionel Messi is thought to earn around $21.5 million in endorsements.
Why is Ronaldo succeeding in this field over Messi when the pair are equally as talented on the field?
Luis Correia, who is the chief executive of Polaris Sport Ltd, the company that manages Ronaldo’s image rights, believes that it’s down to his personality.
“People like Cristiano because he has a strong personality,” Correia explained, “His popularity goes beyond soccer.”
It also probably helps that he is rather good at playing the beautiful game too.
[Image via BP]
