The NBA Finals is one of the biggest sporting events of the year, not only on TV but on social media as well. How much social media engagement was there around the Finals this year compared to the past? Additionally, how much do players and paid partnerships around the games connect with the social audience? 

ListenFirst dug into the social media analytics and here 6 insights you should know about the NBA Finals.  

Insight #1. The Twitter Conversation Around The NBA Finals Peaked In 2016

During the NBA Finals this year, meaning between June 2-16, 2022, there 1,201,942 Tweets that mentioned the event. That’s a decrease of 70.25% from the volume of Tweets mentioning the NBA Finals between Jun 3, 2016 – Jun 19, 2016.   

There are a few reasons the volume of Tweets discussing the NBA Finals during the past 10 years peaked in 2016. It was the year the Golden State Warriors set the NBA regular season record for most wins, only to lose to LeBron James and The Cavaliers in the Finals, the franchise’s first title. Additionally, it was the last time a Finals series went to a Game 7.  

In 2017 and 2018, the Warriors and Cavaliers would play each other in the Finals again, but during those years the Warriors had Kevin Durant on their roster, and those series were much shorter.

The amount of Tweets discussing the NBA Finals was up 2.35% in 2022 from 2021, but the social media interest in having the Warriors back in the Finals still can’t compare to the audience interest in the Warriors facing off against a competitive LeBron James team in the Finals.   

Insight #2. Stephen Curry Was The Player Who Gained The Most New Followers During The Finals 

The MVP on the court was also the MVP on social media. During the NBA Finals this year, Stephen Curry added 945,917 followers to his social media accounts, including 720K followers on Instagram and 100K followers on TikTok (he has 28.8 million total fans on social media). 

That’s 4.4X more followers than any other participant gained during the NBA Finals. Klay Thompson got 216,99 new followers during the Finals, while Jayson Tatum was the Celtic who got the most new followers, adding 133,216 followers in the same time period. 

Insight #3. Role Players Overperform On Wikipedia 

During the NBA Finals, the Stephen Curry Wikipedia page was viewed 1.09 million times. However, other than Curry, the top performers on Wikipedia were somewhat unexpected. 

Andrew Wiggins, had the next highest total, with 437,000 views of his Wikipedia page. Wiggins is not exactly an obscure player, he was the number one overall pick of the 2014 Draft, but up until this season, his career was viewed as a disappointment, and he was recast as a role player. Wiggins was in the NBA Finals for the first time, and with casual NBA fans not hearing about him in a while, they were curious to learn more. 

Similarly, the Al Horford Wikipedia page got 392K page views during the NBA Finals, more than any other Celtic. He’s far from the biggest star on the team, but Horford’s career was considered all but over after disappointing stints playing for the 76ers and Thunder. With Horford getting national attention for the first time in a few years, people were visiting his Wikipedia page to catch up on what they missed from the University of Florida graduate. 

Unlike with other social media networks, the audience uses Wikipedia to learn about people they’re less familiar with, not necessarily the biggest stars. 

#4. Sponsored Content Had A Big Impact During The NBA Finals

Television ads weren’t the only valuable real estate for brands around the NBA Finals. The NBA shared 600 sponsored posts during the NBA Finals that averaged 28,703 engagements. The top performing sponsored post was an Instagram post sponsored by YouTube TV announcing the final score of Game 2 that got 912,385 engagements. 

During the finals The Warriors did 10 paid partnership posts on Facebook and YouTube, with those posts averaging 15,021 engagements. The top performing of those posts named Draymond Green player of the game, was sponsored by Google Cloud and got 43,545 engagements on Facebook.

Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics shared 36 sponsored posts on Facebook and YouTube during the finals that averaged 5,153 engagements. The top performing post, got 19,177 engagements, was sponsored by VistaPrint, and promoted Game 4 ahead of it happening.

Insight #5. NBA Finals Players Should Be Doing More Paid Promotion Posts  

Obviously players don’t have the time or energy during the NBA Finals to monetize their social media channels personally. That said, given the spotlight on these athletes during the Finals, someone should be posting paid promotion posts on their behalf which would increase engagement. 

For example, an Instagram post by Klay Thompson celebrating his 4 rings, with a Michelob Ultra banner prominently in the background got 688,864 engagements on Instagram. Meanwhile a Marcus Smart Instagram post promoting Uleva hemp products got 16,999 engagements. 

The engagement ceiling for social posts by players is even higher. The top performing post by an NBA Finals player during the series was by Stephen Curry saying “Night, Night” on Instagram after the final game, which got 4,202,706 engagements. That was not a paid promotion post, but 12,402,000 viewers watched that Game 6 on TV, and if the average engagement on Instagram posts is between 1%-5% this means exponentially more people saw that Curry post than watched the game.  

A sponsored post shared by an MVP is worth far more to brands than a TV spot at this point. 

Insight #6. The Audience Still Pays Attention to Post Game Comments  

HOLY CANNOLI pic.twitter.com/6lzx43MASA

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 17, 2022

There were 16,635 Tweets mentioning the term ‘Holy Cannoli’ between June 16- 20, 2022. Klay Thompson memorably used the phrase in a post game interview to express how he felt after just having won the NBA championship again. 

Conclusion 

Given the impact of NBA players as social media influencers, and how much engagement and follower growth they get during the Finals specifically, paid partnerships posts with both teams and individual participating players, is an ideal way for brands to stand out around the event. Understanding which of these players are connecting with the social media audience and how, will give brands the necessary context for optimizing this marketing strategy. This is a key missed opportunity for brands and should be built into the next large sporting event to maximize a brand’s reach and create ROI.

Six-time Emmy® Award-winner Carol Burnett will appear as a guest star in the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul, portraying a character named “Marion.”

In addition to Burnett, as previously announced, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, will appear reprising their BREAKING BAD roles of “Walter White” and “Jesse Pinkman,” respectively, as the show draws to its conclusion.

The series, produced by Sony Pictures Television, returns for its final six episodes beginning Monday, July 11 at 9:00 pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+ with the series finale on August 15. The final episodes will conclude the complicated journey and transformation of its compromised hero, Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), into criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.

Said Burnett: “I’m thrilled to be a part of my favorite show.”

Better Call Saul stars Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Tony Dalton and Giancarlo Esposito and is executive produced by Peter Gould, Vince Gilligan, Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock, Diane Mercer, and Michael Morris.

Burnett, an award-winning actress, and best-selling author is widely recognized by the public and her peers for her comedic and dramatic roles on television, film and Broadway, most notably “The Carol Burnett Show.” Named in 2007 by Time magazine as one of 100 Best Television Shows of All Time, “The Carol Burnett Show” ran for 11 years, averaged 30 million viewers per week and received 25 Emmy Awards, making it one of the most honored shows in television history.

Burnett has been seen on Broadway in Once Upon a Mattress, Fade Out – Fade In, Moon Over Buffalo, Putting It Together, and Love Letters. She is also known for playing Miss Hannigan in the original film adaption of Annie.

As a highly acclaimed actress, Burnett also has been honored with Emmys, People’s Choice Awards, the Horatio Alger Award, an Ace Award, the Peabody and a Grammy. A KENNEDY Center Honoree, the recipient of the KENNEDY Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The City of Los Angeles named the intersection of Highland Avenue and Selma Avenue directly adjacent to Hollywood High School, Burnett’s alma mater, Carol Burnett Square and CBS Studios dedicated “The Carol Burnett Artist Entrance” in her honor. Burnett was celebrated by her colleagues and fellow actors with the Life Achievement Award at the 2016 SAG Awards.

The series ended the first half of its current sixth and final season as the #1 acquisition driver in the history of the AMC+ streaming service and the #3 cable drama for the current broadcast season in key demos. The mid-season finale on May 23 delivered more than 2.2 million viewers in Nielsen live+3 ratings, as fans tuned in to see the conclusion of Kim (Seehorn) and Jimmy’s elaborate plot against Howard (Fabian) and experienced a pulse-racing surprise in the episode’s final moments.

Since its season premiere, BETTER CALL SAUL has generated more than 17 million engagements across social platforms, ranking as the #1 drama on broadcast and cable for conversation and organic search and the #1 cable drama in owned social engagement and content shares, according to data from ListenFirst.

Better Call Saul is adding another legendary celebrity to its cast.

Six-time Emmy® Award-winner Carol Burnett will appear as a guest star in the sixth and final season of Better Call Saul, portraying a character named Marion.

“I’m thrilled to be a part of my favorite show,” Burnett said in a statement shared by AMC.

In addition to Burnett, as previously announced, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, will appear reprising their Breaking Bad roles of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, respectively, as the show draws to its conclusion.

The series, produced by Sony Pictures Television, returns for its final six episodes beginning Monday, July 11 at 9:00 pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+ with the series finale on August 15.

“The final episodes will conclude the complicated journey and transformation of its compromised hero, Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), into criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.”

The series stars Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Tony Dalton, and Giancarlo Esposito and is executive produced by Peter Gould, Vince Gilligan, Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock, Diane Mercer, and Michael Morris.

AMC recently revealed that the series remains a solid option for the cabler.

The series ended the first half of its current sixth and final season as the #1 acquisition driver in the history of the AMC+ streaming service and the #3 cable drama for the current broadcast season in key demos.

The mid-season finale on May 23 delivered more than 2.2 million viewers in Nielsen live+3 ratings, as fans tuned in to see the conclusion of Kim (Seehorn) and Jimmy’s elaborate plot against Howard (Fabian) and experienced a pulse-racing surprise in the episode’s final moments.

Since its season premiere, Better Call Saul has generated more than 17 million engagements across social platforms, ranking as the #1 drama on broadcast and cable for conversation and organic search and the #1 cable drama in owned social engagement and content shares, according to data from ListenFirst.

It is nice to know that the series — and franchise — is still pulling in solid ratings.

Burnett recently joined the cast of the Apple TV+ series Mrs. American Pie, where she will star opposite Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb, Josh Lucas, and Ricky Martin.

If you go back to the video of when LeBron James was first interviewed after being picked first in the 2003 NBA Draft, you can still see Sprite signage prominently displayed.

The NBA is the most star driven league in American sports, and when a player really hits, branding around the NBA Draft can have staying power, making it a uniquely valuable event for brands. 

During the NBA Draft, an entirely new group of potential stars were thrust into the limelight, and teams, sponsors, advertisers and brands newsjacking the event need quantifiable data about what was trending on social media.

That’s where ListenFirst comes in. We created a 2022 NBA Draft Social report, the day after the event, showing which players, teams, and brands received the most social media conversation around the draft. 

Download the absolutely free report now!

Marvel Studios is heading back to San Diego Comic-Con. During a virtual press conference on Friday for the company’s upcoming feature film “Thor: Love and Thunder,” studio president Kevin Feige confirmed that the studio will have a presence at the pop culture expo, set to take place in July.

The announcement is a major boost for SDCC, which canceled its in-person conventions in July 2020 and July 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. Although a pared down Comic-Con did take place at the San Diego Convention Center over Thanksgiving weekend in 2021, Marvel did not hold any panels during the event, nor did it participate in the virtual Comic-Con@Home events that replaced the July 2020 and 2021 conventions.

Feige and Disney have not clarified Marvel’s exact plans for SDCC. Upcoming films and shows set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that could be teased during the convention include this November’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” next year’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “The Marvels,” and undated projects such as “Blade” starring Mahershala Ali. Disney+ series that may receive focus include this August’s “I Am Groot” and “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” as well as “Echo,” “Secret Invasion,” “Ironheart,” “Armor Wars” and “Agatha: House of Harkness.”

Marvel has a history of very buzzy panels at SDCC; during their 2019 outing, the studio announced Natalie Portman would return for “Thor: Love and Thunder” and confirmed that Ali would star in a “Blade” reboot. The announcements dominated social media buzz at the convention, with nine of their projects making social-analytics firm ListenFirst Media’s list of 10 most tweeted about properties at the convention.

San Diego Comic-Con runs from July 21 to July 24 at the San Diego Convention Center. For information on future Marvel Studios projects, read Variety‘s regularly updating list of upcoming films and Disney+ shows from the company.

How disruptive can an upstart golf league be on social media?

LIV Golf both has some major advantages and disadvantages, as it tries to put itself on the map as a major new sports league. On one hand, LIV Golf has deep pockets, backed by Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. They’ve signed such top golfers as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio García, Louis Oosthuizen, and Charl Schwartzel.

On the other hand, they’ve been unable to secure a broadcast TV partner in the United States, with so many potential destinations already in long term partnerships broadcasting PGA events.

With LIV Golf having just completed its first big event, ListenFirst took a look at how much share of voice it was able to take from the PGA Tour on social media.