Weibo Sports Report: All you need to know

Weibo Sports released their annual report on the year’s trends from sports organisations on Sina Weibo. Discover below who were the most influential teams, user behaviours and other insights:

LIVERPOOL MOST INFLUENTIAL EUROPEAN TEAM

Teams were assessed on their level of reach, activity and engagement to give an overall ranking:

1. Guangzhou Evergrande

2. Liverpool

3. Bayern Munich

4. Beijing Guoan

5. Manchester United

6. Chelsea

7. Shandong Luneng

8. Shanghai Shenhua

9. Arsenal

10. Guizhou Renhe

MAILMAN TAKEAWAYS

Presence: There are now over 1,200 official sports organisations on Weibo – an 18% year on year increase.

Leagues: The Premier League is the #4 most influential sports league on Weibo, behind the NBA, CSL and the Chinese University Basketball League.

Hashtags: The NBA has the two most engaged hashtags of the year, with a combined 9.1 billion reads.

Athletes: Ex-NBA star Stephon Marbury is the only foreign athlete ranked in Weibo’s top 10 most influential sports stars at #6.

USER INSIGHTS: WHO ARE THEY?

Age: 80% of Chinese sports fans on Weibo are under the age of 30.

Gender: Males make up 68% of total Weibo sports fans, with females at 32%.

Trends: Females tend to focus on individual sports stars and males tend to focus on the sports event and club.