For the second month in a row, Olytico’s Sport for Business analysis breaks new ground.

With over 8.7 million engagements, October 2023 breaks the previous record set in September by 7%, which itself had set a new record exceeding the previous best of March 2023 by 13 percent.

With the announcement of Ireland as the joint host for EUFA Euro 2028, and World Championships for both Rhys McClenaghan and Eve McMahon, October 2023 was full of highlights for Olytico to analyse.

For context, when compared to the same month in 2022, activity by the Sports for Business member organisations rose 2.47% (9,944 versus 9,698 posts) but the headline comes from a 215% increase in engagements generated (8.72 million versus 2.76 million).

In addition, October’s report includes an analysis of over 150 posts on TikTok which generated over 6 million views.

 

Don’t miss out on this week’s Irish Sport on Social media conference this coming Friday morning, November 24th.  Click here for special offers for Social Media Managers working in or around Irish Sport.  It is a lineup and a room full of your peers that you will not want to miss.

The morning will include a session with Olytico on the lessons learned from their analysis of your work in 2023 and pointers for the future.

In the infographics below, we have ranked each of the organisations 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.

 

October 2023 Highlights on X

 

 

Activity on X rose 2.5% in October, with 4,607 posts generating 555,985 engagements, a 13% increase on the previous month.

Dublin GAA topped the activity charts for the second month in a row, their 538 posts (+27%) included the announcement that Dessie Farrell had agreed to remain as Dublin Senior Football manager until the end of the 2025 season.

In second, the Ladies Football account (465, +32%) announced the nominees for the 2023 TG4 Senior, Intermediate and Junior Players’ Player of the Year awards, and in third, the URC (304, +60%) kicked off their new season, their top three tweets for October all related to Munster and Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony, and most importantly their top content confirmed that O’Mahony’s garden was in good hands whilst he was in France.

 

The Irish FA’s account (81, +138%) wished the Northern Ireland powerchair team every success at the World Cup in Australia, Ireland Women’s Cricket (136, +134%) celebrated winning the ODI Series against Scotland, and Badminton Ireland (40, +33%) announced Chloe Magee as the NGB’s first Women in Sport & National Development Manager and celebrated a Bronze at the Scottish Open for Nhat Nguyen.

The IRFU retained the top spot on the X engagement charts with an average of 1,197 engagements per post, a 12% increase from the previous month.

Ireland Football (413, -2%) announced James McClean’s retirement from international football, and in third Munster Rugby (224, +84%)  congratulated Jean Kleyn & RG Snyman as they won the Rugby World Cup with South Africa.

 

Ireland Lacrosse (26, +225%) celebrated Lacrosse’s inclusion as an Olympic sport from LA 2028, Irish Sailing (5, +150%) congratulated Eve McMahon as she became the ILCA U21 World Champion and the GPA (22, +144%) congratulated the Ireland players on their win against Scotland in the hurling/shinty international at Páirc Esler.

Special mention to Gymnastics Ireland (133, +125%) as Rhys McClenaghan was crowned the 2023 Pommel World Champion after winning Gold with a score of 15.100, securing an Olympic quota spot for #TeamIreland in Paris 2024 in the process.

The FAI (895) topped the ‘average engagements per 1,000 followers’ metric as they joined the footballing world in paying tribute to the legendary Bobby Charlton, who counted Waterford United amongst his former clubs in his illustrious career.

With so many moments to choose from, it’s little surprise that the Irish Rugby account provided the top content on X in October, this simple ‘Legend’ post featuring Peter O’Mahony was their most popular content on X during the month, generating over 14,500 public engagements.

 

 

October 2023 Highlights on Facebook

 

 

Facebook activity increased by 2.15% in October, however, the 1.25 million engagements generated on the platform was a 6.9% decrease on the previous month.

The Ladies Gaelic Football account topped the activity charts for the second month in a row with 400 posts (+13%), Cricket Ireland were in second (235, +85%) and the GAA finished in third (223, +135%) as their Standing Committee on Playing Rules commenced trialling two alternative playing rules in the Higher Education Freshers 1 Gaelic Football League relating to kick-outs, free-kicks, and sideline kicks.

Special mention to Gymnastics Ireland (54, +238%) as they congratulated Emma Slevin and Halle Hilton who concluded competition at the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships; Hilton’s top score was 12.900 on vault ranking 59 in All-Around whilst Slevin’s top scores were 12.100 on both floor and vault placing her in 78 in All-Around.

Irish Rugby (10,284, +40%) led the Facebook average engagement per post rankings, followed by the URC (898, -43%) and Ulster Rugby (681, +124%) as they congratulated Steven Kitshoff and Duane Vermeulen on winning the #RWC2023.

Irish Sailing (80, +471%) crowned Finn Lynch as their 2023 Champion after a weekend of tricky conditions racing, Finn Lynch Sailing came out on top, with crew and brother Rory Lynch. Pentathlon Ireland (116, +383%) celebrated Suzie Cave’s achievement as she finished 6th in the Baltic Cup in Lithuania, placing 2nd in her first time competing in the Obstacle Discipline, and Vision Sports Ireland (45, +80%) announced the team that will represent Ireland as the Old Wesley RFC Vision Impaired Rugby team at the Vision Impaired Rugby World Cup in France.

The BKT URC (1,057) topped the average engagements per 1,000 followers metric, with Irish Rugby (891) in second and Connacht Rugby (567) in third.

The URC provided the top content on Facebook for October as they featured Springbok legend Eben Etzebeth and his wife Anlia van Rensburg celebrating on the pitch post-match as the Springboks won back-to-back Men’s Rugby World Cups, the post having generated over 78,000 public engagements to date.

 

 

 

October 2023 Highlights on Instagram

 

 

Despite Instagram activity falling for the third month in a row, the 2,008 posts (-2%) generated 6.9 million engagements (+9%). 79% of the total engagements for October’s analysis came from Instagram, underpinning the importance of the platform for the Sport for Business member organisations.

The League of Ireland continued their impressive output as they topped the activity charts for the third month in a row, their 227 posts (-3%) included this post which saw a Finn Harps match ball being found in the Outer Hebrides  and the moment Galway United had waited nearly three decades for.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by League of Ireland (@leagueofireland)

 

In second, the URC (204, +24%) benefitted from Tommy’s Bowe footage of the Irish fan’s rendition of Zombie and in third, Ireland Football (159, -10%) celebrated Katie McCabe’s hat-trick against Albania.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by BKT United Rugby Championship (@urc)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ireland Football (@irelandfootball)

The GAA (49, +600%) featured this wholesome post from the Allianz Cumann na mBunscol, Basketball Ireland (102, +57%) announced their U18 squad for the 2023/24 cycle and Hockey Ireland (33, +50%) featured imagery from the EY Hockey Leagues.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Official GAA (@officialgaa)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Hockey Ireland (@hockey_ireland)

For the sixth month in a row, Irish Rugby topped the average engagements per post rankings for with an average of 24,367 public engagements per post (+24%). Ireland Football (5,261, -16%) celebrated the confirmation that Ireland and the UK will host UEFA Euro 2028 and in third, Munster Rugby (4,763, +36%) thanked Keith Earls as he announced his retirement from rugby.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ireland Football (@irelandfootball)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Munster Rugby (@munsterrugby)

Vision Sports Ireland (36, +64%) highlighted the #LoveYourEyes campaign on World Sight Day , Swim Ireland (331, +57%) presented the Children’s Health Foundation with a cheque for €15,000 raised through the 2023 ‘Swim for a Mile’ challenge and Volleyball Ireland (210, +37%) were treated to a Marco Mencarelli Masterclass.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Swim Ireland (@swimireland)

Irish Rugby (4,421, +4%)) took top spot for the ‘average engagements per 1000 followers’ metric, followed by the URC (3,226, +19%) and Basketball Ireland (2,713, +88%).

Irish Rugby posted the top performing content on Instagram in October as they sent thanks to every single person who had supported the Men’s team on their Rugby World Cup journey. To date the post has generated close to 250,000 public engagements.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Irish Rugby (@irishrugby)

October 2023 Highlights on TikTok

 

160 TikToks were posted by member organisations in October, this 22% decrease in activity on the platform led to 562,000 engagements (-61%) and 6.3 million views (-64%).

The views were dominated by the URC (1.58 million), Ulster Rugby (1 million) and Ireland Football (928,000).

Connacht Rugby (24 posts) topped the activity charts, as they announced World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year nominee Bundee Aki had re-signed with the Province.

 

@connachtrugby He’s a Connacht legend and World Player of the Year nominee. And he’s here to stay! #Bundee2025 #ConnachtRugby #BundeeAki #Rugby #IrishRugby #FYP ♬ original sound – Connacht Rugby


Leinster Rugby in second (21) featured Tommy O’Brien’s try against Munster and in third, Dublin GAA (19) harked back to Diarmuid Connolly’s penalty as he helped Dublin make it 2-in-a-row in 2016.

When ranked by average engagement per post, Ulster Rugby topped the charts (25,508) as they challenged 3 of their players to score 3 goals across 3 sports.

 

@officialulsterrugby3 sports, 3 goal attempts each 😂 The boys tried their hand at Hurling and Gaelic Football ahead of this weekend! Join us at our Bank of Ireland pre-season finale this Saturday against Glasgow in Cavan👊 Ticket link in bio.♬ original sound – Ulster Rugby


In second, the League of Ireland (11,593) asked if this finish was the best goal ever scored in the Men’s FAI Cup Semi-Finals.

 

@leagueofireland The best goal ever in the Sports Direct Men’s FAI Cup Semi-Finals? More of the same this weekend please 😍 #FAICup #FYP #GOAL ♬ Techno Syndrome (Mortal Kombat) – 32Stitches & Sweeper


Away from rugby, Basketball Ireland brought us this insane half-court shot during a school basketball game, and HRI took us behind the scenes as Scott McCullagh showed James Lowe what happens at the starting stalls.

 

@basketball.ireland Insane half court shot during a school basketball game in Ireland. #basketball #hoops #ireland ♬ original sound – Basketball Ireland

 

@hriracing Ever wondered what happens at the starting stalls? Scott McCullagh reveals all 🙌 #behindthescenes #horseracing #flatracing #jameslowe #rwc2023 ♬ original sound – Horse Racing Ireland

Connacht Rugby provided the piece of content that generated the most public engagements in the form of likes, comments and shares. The clip of Bundee Aki with his daughter post-match at the RWC has generated over 80,000 public engagements and been viewed over 650,000 times to date.

@connachtrugby Part of the Connacht Family 💚 What a World Cup Bundee Aki is having so far! 🟢🦅 📹 @Rugby World Cup #ConnachtRugby #BundeeAki #Rugby #Aki #Family #rugbyworldcup2023 #rugbyworldcup #Ireland #Winning #FYP ♬ Soldier, Poet, King – The Oh Hellos

 

 

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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

 

Don’t miss out on this week’s Irish Sport on Social media conference this coming Friday morning, November 24th.  Click here for special offers for Social Media Managers working in or around Irish Sport.  It is a lineup and a room full of your peers that you will not want to miss.

The morning will include a session with Olytico on the lessons learned from their analysis of your work in 2023 and pointers for the future.