NRL on Facebook

[mikail-eagle]

Just 2 weeks since launch.
PNG Hunters: https://www.facebook.com/pnghunters 8618 and growing daily.

 

[Brooklyn Kings RLFC]

Awesome result for our game, especially given the importance of online presence in today's world.

 

[cleary89]

Facebook Official Page numbers counts at 25 Oct 2012:
NRL - National Rugby League 480,024 (AFL Official 485,110, Hyundai A-League 37,629)
Brisbane Broncos 262,447
Melbourne Storm 196,813
Parramatta Eels 143,375
South Sydney Rabbitohs 110,994
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 109,932
Gold Coast Titans 109,706
Wests Tigers - Official National Rugby League Club 87,076
St George-Illawarra Dragons 76,417
Vodafone Warriors 68,281
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 67,670
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys 64,830
Newcastle Knights 58,136
The Official Sydney Roosters Page 52,537
Cronulla Sharks 45,371
Penrith Panthers 39,972
Canberra Raiders 20,725

Then and now

NRL - National Rugby League 644,472 (AFL Official 579,821, Hyundai A-League 83,881)
Brisbane Broncos 331,773
Melbourne Storm 267,562
Parramatta Eels 174,922
South Sydney Rabbitohs 194,915
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 150,065
Gold Coast Titans 132,061
Wests Tigers - Official National Rugby League Club 183,595
St George-Illawarra Dragons 89,165
Vodafone Warriors 195,405
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 107,016
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys 85,805
Newcastle Knights 87,283
The Official Sydney Roosters Page 104,592
Cronulla Sharks 72,373
Penrith Panthers 61,755
Canberra Raiders 69,886

 

[mongoose]

Interesting that NRL has quite a significant amount more facebook fans than AFL. Wonder what the League hating AFL zealots would say about that?

 

[beave]

A league, bahaahahha!!! My idiot club has more FB fans than their page, bahahaha!

 

[Armageddon.]

Why do A-league even bother. They should just fold now...

 

[Saint Doc]

Then and now

NRL - National Rugby League 644,472 (AFL Official 579,821, Hyundai A-League 83,881)
Brisbane Broncos 331,773
Melbourne Storm 267,562
Parramatta Eels 174,922
South Sydney Rabbitohs 194,915
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 150,065
Gold Coast Titans 132,061
Wests Tigers - Official National Rugby League Club 183,595
St George-Illawarra Dragons 89,165
Vodafone Warriors 195,405
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 107,016
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys 85,805
Newcastle Knights 87,283
The Official Sydney Roosters Page 104,592
Cronulla Sharks 72,373
Penrith Panthers 61,755
Canberra Raiders 69,886

Dragons. Disgraceful

 

[tumbidragon]

Dragons just hit over 100k. Something like 10k growth in just over a week. Not sure where the strong growth came from, as I saw no campaign pushing it. Maybe they just got the internets around Kogarah and the Gong?

 

[Timmah]

Sometimes official facebook pages acquire smaller fraudulent/fake pages that are misrepresenting the brand - pretty sure this happened with the Warriors a couple of years ago. Perhaps that happened?

 

[Western_Eel]

Dragons just hit over 100k. Something like 10k growth in just over a week. Not sure where the strong growth came from, as I saw no campaign pushing it. Maybe they just got the internets around Kogarah and the Gong?

You can actually buy followers

 

[tumbidragon]

Funnily enough, the number dropped 150ish after the team was released this arv lol.

 

[docbrown]

The four football codes compared:



All Blacks 2,709,620
NRL 783,589
QLD Maroons 655,510
AFL 626,432
NSW Blues 503,000
Brisbane Broncos 460,846
Wallabies 349,520
Socceroos 342,205
Melbourne Storm 337,234
Collingwood Magpies 289,455
New Zealand Warriors 278,740
Essendon Bombers 274,455
South Sydney Rabbitohs 253,969
Crusaders 238,000
Parramatta Eels 224,818
Hawthorn Hawks 216,797
Wests Tigers 214,262
New Zealand Kiwis 212,012
Carlton Blues 201,710
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs 198,599
West Coast Eagles 187,925
Chiefs 180,000
Super Rugby 174,968
Sydney Swans 163,811
Gold Coast Titans 156,993
Australian Kangaroos 148,388
Adelaide Crows 146,290
Richmond Tigers 143,799
Auckland Blues 142,000
A League 142,000
Sydney Roosters 139,057
Fremantle 138,389
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 135,110
Queensland Reds 129,193
Melbourne Victory 126,531
Hurricanes 120,478
Sydney FC 120,013
St George-Illawarra Dragons 118,350
Newcastle Knights 115,963
North Queensland Cowboys 112,349
Geelong Cats 110,762
St Kilda 107,851
Port Adelaide Power 98,415
Cronulla Sharks 92,883
Highlanders 87,291
Brisbane Lions 84,347
Canberra Raiders 83,944
Penrith Panthers 82,019
NSW Waratahs 81,677
Gold Coast Suns 81,633
Wellington Phoenix 76,110
Brisbane Roar 74,643
North Melbourne Kangaroos 73,179
Western Bulldogs 67,805
Western Sydney Wanderers 65,139
Melbourne Demons 60,948
Adelaide United 53,706
Melbourne Heart 49,127
Western Force 48,597
Perth Glory 42,415
Melbourne Rebels 40,490
GWS Giants 39,133
Newcastle Jets 30,174
Central Coast Mariners 28,742
ACT Brumbies 17,403

• All Blacks have more followers than the Super Rugby teams combined. Most likely because of non-NZ followers and locals are likely more passionate about internationals than Super Rugby
• NRL still #1 football league (NRL > AFL > SuperRugby > A-League -- my guess take away South African support and A-League > Super Rugby)
• The State of Origin sides support > National Soccer & Union sides
• Broncos still #1 domestic team across all 4 codes
• For Queensland teams seems support goes Maroons > Broncos > Titans > Reds > Cowboys > Lions > Suns > Roar
• For Victorian teams seems support goes Storm > Magpies > Bombers > Hawthorn > Carlton > Richmond > Victory > Geelong > St Kilda > North Melbourne > Western Bulldogs > Demons > Heart > Rebels
• For NSW/ ACT teams seems support goes Blues > Rabbitohs > Eels > Tigers > Bulldogs > Swans > Roosters > Sea Eagles > Sydney FC > Dragons > Knights > Sharks > Raiders > Panthers > Waratahs > Wanderers > GWS > Jets > Mariners > Brumbies
• For New Zealand seems support goes All Blacks > Warriors > Crusaders > Kiwis > Chiefs > Auckland > Hurricanes > Highlanders > Phoenix
• In terms of ranking only domestic clubs NRL clubs take 6 of the top 10, 9 of the top 20, 13 of the top 30 spots
• AFL clubs take 3 of the top 10, 8 of the top 20, 10 of the top 30 spots
• SL clubs take 1 of the top 10, 3 of the top 20, 5 of the top 30 spots
• AL clubs take 0 of the top 10, 0 of the top 20, 2 of the top 30 spots

I'm going to throw this out there but if you times those NRL club face book numbers by 1.8 you'd roughly get the fan base sizes for each club (give or take) with a combined total of about 5.5 million NRL fans across Australia & New Zealand.


If the NRL ever managed to get 10% of their overall fanbase and convert them into bums on seats we'd easily be looking at a 25k+ crowd average.

 

[hutch]

Thanks for those figure doc, very interesting! Surprised the dragons are so low being a bigger Sydney club, probably shows that they have an older demographic of supporters I guess. We need to convert these fans into paying members! I have friends who love and breathe rugby league who wouldn't even consider being a member. Some are obsessed with rugby league but have no interest and actively bag international rugby league. We are a weird bunch us rugby league fans, years of paranoia and fear in the media have made us a little self conscious!

 

[Desert Qlder]

The Kiwis strong numbers in comparison to the Kangaroos is intriguing.

 

[oikee]

Panthers are on the rise.

 

[insert.pause]

I've noticed that despite the greater numbers, the only league page verified is the NRL, while every AFL club is verified. Can't quite figure that out.

 

[docbrown]

Thanks for those figure doc, very interesting! Surprised the dragons are so low being a bigger Sydney club, probably shows that they have an older demographic of supporters I guess. We need to convert these fans into paying members! I have friends who love and breathe rugby league who wouldn't even consider being a member. Some are obsessed with rugby league but have no interest and actively bag international rugby league. We are a weird bunch us rugby league fans, years of paranoia and fear in the media have made us a little self conscious!

I'd say the Dragons do skew towards being under represented on face book.

I mean when I say times these numbers by approx 1.8 you get the overall fanbase, it's based on both the percentage of Australian facebook users and the numbers you see coming from independent pollsters of which the Dragons usually sit in the top 5.

Re crowds like I said there's probably a combined 5.5 million NRL club followers yet we only get about 130,000 or so going to games each week.

The potential is there.

The Kiwis strong numbers in comparison to the Kangaroos is intriguing.

When you consider that almost 5.5 million fans follow NRL clubs, 1.4 million follow the two Origin sides yet only 350k follow Aus & NZ it shows you where the international sits in the scheme of things.

However it's not that surprising given that the international game is treated like an afterthought.

I still believe though that the international game could get closer to Origin in popularity. Origin shows you don't need a slew of competitive teams. If anything you just need at least 2.

If Australia vs New Zealand matches were scheduled every October with a 3 games series every 4th year, as soon as the results got close although October is outside the peak season with a bit of promotional hype support for the international game would boom.

Panthers are on the rise.

They've really got to start converting people who move into the north-west corridor. The population shift is going to be the best thing that's ever happened to them.

 

[Saint Doc]

doc (you, not me)



Love the analysis. Keep it up. Very interesting

 

[RugbyLeagueStartedIn1988]

Thought Facebook likes would be a better indicator of club popularity than club membership and match attendance.

Brisbane Broncos - 574,496
Vodafone Warriors - 424,996
Melbourne Storm - 413,880
South Sydney Rabbitohs - 406,469
Parramatta Eels - 279,416
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs - 267,039
Wests Tigers - 235,223
The Official Sydney Roosters Page - 194,993
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys - 188,540
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles - 172,119
Gold Coast Titans - 171,139
St George-Illawarra Dragons - 147,845
Newcastle Knights - 138,846
Cronulla Sharks - 122,547
Penrith Panthers -120,536
Canberra Raiders - 105,401

Here are the FB likes of our national teams put it in comparison.

Australian Cricket Team - 2,237,658
Socceroos - 541,827
Wallabies - 534,403
Australian Kangaroos - 144,797

Origin Team

Queensland Maroons - 813,924
NSW Blues - 712,983

Two of the most popular AFL clubs

Collingwood Football Club - 318,679
Hawthorn Football Club - 293,980

Two of the most popular A-league clubs

Melbourne Victory - 170,884
Sydney FC - 163,475

 

[Frailty]

Thought Facebook likes would be a better indicator of club popularity than club membership and match attendance.

Brisbane Broncos - 574,496
Vodafone Warriors - 424,996
Melbourne Storm - 413,880
South Sydney Rabbitohs - 406,469
Parramatta Eels - 279,416
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs - 267,039
Wests Tigers - 235,223
The Official Sydney Roosters Page - 194,993
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys - 188,540
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles - 172,119
Gold Coast Titans - 171,139
St George-Illawarra Dragons - 147,845
Newcastle Knights - 138,846
Cronulla Sharks - 122,547
Penrith Panthers -120,536
Canberra Raiders - 105,401

Here are the FB likes of our national teams put it in comparison.

Australian Cricket Team - 2,237,658
Socceroos - 541,827
Wallabies - 534,403
Australian Kangaroos - 144,797

Origin Team

Queensland Maroons - 813,924
NSW Blues - 712,983

Two of the most popular AFL clubs

Collingwood Football Club - 318,679
Hawthorn Football Club - 293,980

Two of the most popular A-league clubs

Melbourne Victory - 170,884
Sydney FC - 163,475

Whilst I think the numbers are very interesting - I don't think Facebook likes which involve a simple click is "a better indicator of club popularity than club membership and match attendance" at all.