Olytico’s analysis for May 2025 encompasses over 14,500 posts, 4.6 million engagements and close to 24 million views of Sport for Business member organisations’ content on TikTok.
The last three months (March, April and May 2025) were the busiest months on record since Olytico’s analysis began.
May saw impressive engagement figures for Facebook (+20%), highlighting that whilst platforms may see fluctuations in popularity and prominence throughout the sporting year, they all still play a vital role in sport’s digital communications landscape.
It was a busy month for the League of Ireland which is reflected in their impressive standings in the ‘engagements per thousand followers metric’ and the United Rugby Championship deserve special recognition for their staggering 13 million views on TikTok during May – a figure we expect to see broken when it comes to June’s analysis thanks to their Play-Off series content, and a home final for Leinster at Croke Park.
Katie McCabe’s success with Arsenal delivered success for the Ireland Football accounts, and McCabe featured in the top five posts for the organisation on X, and Facebook, three of the top five posts on Instagram, and the top three posts on TikTok.
Throughout this week’s coverage, we have ranked each organisation across a range of metrics on each network, including the most active, the most engaged with, and the most engaging content, as well as engagements per 1,000 followers where possible.
It is important to note that this analysis is based on publicly available data. It does not include any analysis or insight on paid or promoted content. When % figures are used (unless otherwise stated), they refer to the previous month’s figures.
Here is how our monthly report coverage will shape up during the week.
X Analysis – Monday
Facebook Analysis – Tuesday
Instagram Analysis – Wednesday
TikTok Analysis – Thursday
May 2025 Highlights on Facebook
Facebook activity rose 2.5% in May, with 4,539 posts generating 641,957 public engagements, a 20% increase on the previous month.
It also represents an increase in activity from 4,200 posts in May 2024 but a 13 per cent drop in the total number of public engagements from a year ago.
The League of Ireland topped the activity charts for the fourth month in a row with 691 posts (+6%) as twin sisters Aoife Fanning, captain of Dundalk WU19s and Laura Fanning, captain of Rovers WU19s clashed in the WU19 LOI Academy.
The GAA (487, +15%) in second brought us the celebratory scenes from the Donegal dressing room, and in third, the NIFL (368, -35%) congratulated Trai Hume as Sunderland were promoted to the Premier League.
Gymnastics Ireland (52, +420%) wrapped up their National Series National Championships, and the Gaelic Players Association (22, +214%) confirmed their #letplayerschoose position on the Skorts v Shorts campaign.
Irish Rugby (3,091, +333%) topped the engagement per post charts, followed by the FAI (775, +209%) and the BKT URC (474, +83%).
All three of these numbers were substantially up on where they were a year ago.
Squash Ireland (2,526) topped the average engagements per 1,000 followers metric, followed by the Northern ireland Football league and Athletics Ireland.
The FAI generated the most engaged with content on Facebook in May with this ‘No caption needed’ content following Katie McCabe’s European success with Arsenal. To date this post has generated close to 15,000 public engagements.
X Analysis – Monday
Facebook Analysis – Tuesday
Instagram Analysis – Wednesday
TikTok Analysis – Thursday
If you would like to be part of the Sport for Business community and be added to the list, email us today and let’s see what is possible. If you would like a more detailed analysis of your social media activity, contact ross@olytico.com
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Further Reading for Sport for Business members:
Check out more of our Sport for Business coverage of Social Media
SPORT FOR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE
There are some positive signs this month that a recent drop of engagement numbers on X is beginning to level off. And more to come over the rest of the week.
MEMBERSHIP AND EVENTS
All the sporting organisations listed in this analysis are full members of the Sport for Business community.
Find out more about becoming a member today.
WHAT’S UP NEXT?
Each of the other Social Media Channels will be covered over the next three days.
Sport for Business is in planning for major events bringing together leaders in Irish Sport and Business across a range of subjects in the second half of the year.
On Thursday, August 29th we will host a special event looking at Digital infrastructure including the use of AI in sport..
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