Illustration: Morning Brew Design, Photos: @nba/Instagram, @brooklynnets/TikTok, @nyliberty/TikTok
• 7 min read
Not just anyone gets to vote on sports league MVPs, but there’s another kind of MVP that fans do get a say in: the most valuable posts.
Marketing Brew emailed a dozen teams and leagues to ask which of their social media posts saw the most views and engagement in 2024, and the results spanned from in-game action to locker room antics to TikTok trends.
Here are some of the top sports social posts this year.
A post shared by NBA (@nba)
The NBA’s most viral post of the year, with 241 million views on Instagram, is a video of a play from a late-March Mavericks-Jazz game that starts with a steal by Luka Doncic and ends with an alley-oop from Kyrie Irving to Derrick Jones Jr.
A TikTok of Nets players Cam Thomas, Noah Clowney, Keon Johnson, and Jaylen Martin taking “the bro test,” a TikTok trend that determines a person’s “bro” status based on how they perform tasks like picking up a pair of tongs, has been viewed 20.2 million times, with 1.1 million engagements. Player personality content is crucial for the Nets, like many other teams.
A video of New York Liberty players matching tweets to the teammate that posted them has 1.9 million views and 257,100 likes on TikTok, plus another 1.6 million views and 116,000 likes on Instagram.
“This season, the Liberty leaned heavily into player personalities,” Charlie DeSadier, the team’s social media coordinator, said. “By knowing our players, staying fresh with social trends, and staying tapped in with our audience, we’ve seen our engagements spike across the board by 665% versus last season.”
A post shared by Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls)
A post from the Chicago Bulls thanking Derrick Rose for his eight years with the franchise after the Chicago native announced his retirement from the NBA got more than 1 million likes, making it the most liked Instagram post in Bulls history. It was also shared more than 200,000 times on Instagram and more than 80,000 times on Facebook, making it the most-shared Bulls post on both platforms.
“It’s simple imagery, but one that truly tells a story and, for many fans, effectively broke the news of his retirement,” VP of Content Luka Dukich said. “While simple, the entire post stirs up real emotions, and that emotion is a big reason this was one of the biggest posts in Bulls social history.”
Bulls mascot Benny the Bull has his own social media presence, and the team sees him as an influencer in his own right. From his Instagram, a post jokingly explaining the plot of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse instead of the solar eclipse with the caption “Bella, where the hell have you been LOCA? 🤪” was viewed 3 million times and shared more than 55,000, a record number of shares for Benny.
The best-performing post by engagement for MLS was a TikTok of a referee announcing that VAR review determined a play was not offside, to which the crowd cheered. After a pause, he then adds that due to a foul by St. Louis City SC, the other team would receive a direct free kick, and the cheers turn to boos. The post has over 1.5 million engagements.
The league’s second most engaged-with post is an Instagram Reel of Leo Messi hugging Will Smith, which generated over 1 million engagements. Zach Riggar, VP of digital marketing and paid media for MLS, previously called Messi “the algorithm hack for all things.”
A post shared by National Women's Soccer League (@nwsl)
For the NWSL, a video of international soccer superstar Marta scoring a goal for the Orlando Pride during the semifinals got 10.6 million impressions and 546,800 engagements on Instagram. The Pride ultimately won the league championship in 2024.
A post shared by FC Barcelona Femeni (@fcbfemeni)
Bay FC, which joined the NWSL as an expansion team for the 2024 season, saw 122,298 engagements on a collab post with FC Barcelona, according to the team. The Instagram post featured Nigerian striker Asisat Oshoala, who played with Barca before joining Bay FC, chatting with and hugging her former teammates on the pitch, with the caption, “Great to see you again, @asisat_oshoala 😍.”
A post shared by Washington Spirit (@washingtonspirit)
Washington Spirit and USWNT forward Trinity Rodman went viral for her pink braids—and her goal scoring—during the Olympics, resulting in a boost for her team. A photo and video of a young soccer player named Emma wearing her hair in pink braids and Rodman’s jersey was the Spirit’s top post on Instagram, with 92,250 engagements, and on X, with 12,892 engagements.
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On TikTok, the top performer was a “question of the day” video in which players weighed in on whether they prefer the term “soccer” or “football” for their sport, which got 1.1 million views and 121,927 engagements. The team’s top Facebook post, with 10,485 engagements, featured photos of NWSL Rookie of the Year Croix Bethune making her debut for the national team.
A post shared by Manchester City (@mancity)
A video of Man City forward Erling Haaland throwing a plastic water bottle on the ground out of frustration and accidentally landing it in a trash can racked up 171 million views across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The clip was also featured in the team’s documentary, Together: 4-In-A-Row, about winning its fourth straight Premier League title.
Man City’s most viewed single post, with 115 million views on Instagram, shows the pitch and stadium being prepped for the team’s May 19 matchup against West Ham United, during which Man City clinched its fourth consecutive Premier League title. Match-day coverage and other content from Etihad Stadium in Manchester help the team connect with its international fans, Michael Russell, Man City’s head of production, previously told Marketing Brew.
A post shared by NASCAR (@nascar)
Nascar’s most-viewed video shows a gas can emptying onto the ground instead of into a car during a pit stop at the Xfinity Series in Las Vegas. It has more than 77 million views and 858,145 engagements. Of those views, 98% were from non-followers, according to the league, which has been working to recruit new fans using social media.
A post shared by Seattle Mariners (@mariners)
The Mariners’ most engaging posts of the year on Instagram, X, and Facebook all came out of their partnership with K-pop group ENHYPEN:
“The collab allowed us to tap into a completely new and international audience,” Mariners Director of Digital Marketing Tim Walsh said.
On TikTok, though, Noah Kahan’s first pitch took the cake with 268,000 engagements. TikTok has also historically been helpful for reaching audiences outside of die-hard fans, Walsh previously told us.
The Hartford Yard Goats, a minor league baseball team that doesn’t shy away from memes and comedy online, got 873,094 impressions across Instagram, X, and Facebook on a post joking that Los Angeles Dodgers player Mookie Betts would be banned from the Yard Goats’ park next season for “clearly interfering with a fan’s experience” while catching a ball.
Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.
Industry news By Morning brew Inc.
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