September was a record-breaking month for Olytico’s Sport for Business analysis.

With close to 8.17 million engagements, September’s analysis breaks the previous record by 13% (7.22 million in March 2023).

It is no surprise that these two months feature success for the Irish Men’s Rugby team, and the number of engagements can be directly attributed to results on the pitch, with a Grand Slam and progress throughout the pool stages of the RWC the contributing factors.

Outside of rugby union, with under 300 days to go until Paris 2024, Team Ireland is beginning to shape up, with 60 athlete quota spots confirmed at time of writing, and this month’s analysis includes an abundance of qualifications for Rowing Ireland, Leona Maguire’s contributions to Team Europe retaining the Solheim Cup, more national records on the track and success on the Basketball courts of Europe.

Whilst activity across X, Facebook and Instagram fell 10% vs. August, engagements across the platforms rose an incredible 49.59%.

On Tik Tok we saw 205 posts from the Sport for Business member organisations which resulted in an additional 1.43 million engagements and a staggering 17.58 million views on the network.

A date for your diary as well.  We will be hosting an Irish Sport on Social Media Conference at the Axis Theatre in Ballymun, Dublin on the morning of Friday, November 24th.

There will be learning, networking and more with details and the release of speakers as well as tickets in the next week or so on Sport for Business.

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.

 

 

September 2023 Highlights on X

 

 

Activity on X fell 14% in September, however 4,491 posts generated 493,892 engagements which was an 18% increase on August.

Dublin GAA topped the activity charts, their 422 posts (+46%) included this moment of magic from Dean Rock against Mayo in 2017 (link), and in third, the Ladies Football account (351, -8%) took us in to the thick of the action at their #g4mo event with the 2023 TG4 All-Ireland Senior Final referee Shane Curley (link).

 

In second place for the second month in a row, Golf Ireland (417, +3%) kept us up to speed with Leona Maguire’s heroics in the Solheim Cup

 

And in third, the Ladies Football account (351, -8%) took us in to the thick of the action at their #g4mo event with the 2023 TG4 All-Ireland Senior Final referee Shane Curley.

 

A special mention to Rowing Ireland (89, +112%) as they celebrated Olympic Qualification for Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in the Men’s Lightweight Double, Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh for the Women’s Pair, Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen in the Lightweight Women’s Double, Phil Doyle and Daire Lynch in the Men’s Double, Alison Bergin and Zoe Hyde in the Women’s Double, Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney in the Men’s Pair, and Katie O’Brien and Steven McGowan booked the PR2 Mixed double into the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

 

The LOI Women’s account (154, +73%) celebrated the return to action of Wexford’s Ellen

 

IWA-Sport (94, +65%) celebrated an amazing tournament for the Irish Basketball Squad as they picked up the Bronze at the European Championships in Sarajevo

 

Team Ireland (64, -28%) celebrated European Championship Silver for the Show Jumping Team, Ireland’s fourth team medal in European Championships history

 

The IRFU returned to the top of the engagement charts with an average of 765 engagements per post (+77%), their top content featured this wholesome moment as Keith Earls led the team out alongside his three daughters ahead of winning his 100th cap.

In second, Ireland Football (445, -43%) got off to a fantastic start against The Netherlands as Adam Idah scored a fourth minute penalty.

In third, Athletics Ireland (176, -37%) celebrated an new national 100 record for Sarah Lavin as she broke Phil Healy’s record with a stunning 11.27 in Switzerland.

Rowing Ireland (482) topped the ‘average engagements per 1,000 followers’ metric following all the Olympic Qualifications.

With Andy Farrell’s men sweeping aside all in front of them it’s no surprise that the Irish Rugby account provided the most engaged with content on X in September, the victory against South Africa post generated over 19,000 public engagements to date.

September 2023 Highlights on Facebook

 

 

Facebook activity fell 7% in September, however the 3,018 posts generated close to 1.35 million engagements, an increase of 26%.

The Ladies Gaelic Football account topped the activity charts with 354 posts (+44%) as they looked back on the successful Gaelic4Mothers&Others National Blitz Day.

 


In second, Dublin GAA (178, +19%) looked back on this goal from Eoin Murchan in 2019

 


and in third, the URC (169, +100%) focused on their Championship’s players’ performances in the Rugby World Cup.

The Northern Ireland National Team account (124, +439%) recognised Jonny Evan’s 200th appearance for Manchester United, the FAI account (130, +271%) congratulated the Women’s National Team on their start to their UEFA Women’s Nations League campaign and thanked fans for their support as the Women’s team set a new record for the biggest home crowd ever as 35,994 attended the team’s first match at the Aviva Stadium. Rowing Ireland (91, +117%) celebrated yet another Gold for Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in the LM2x.

Irish Rugby (7,344, +27%) led the Facebook average engagement per post rankings, followed by the URC (1,588, +731%) and Gymnastics Ireland (974, +1020%).

Special mentions to Special Olympics Ireland (722, +1065%) as they cooked up something extra special with Shaws Department Stores and Healthy Food Made Easy, to the Gaelic Players Association (38, +280%) as they wished Kilkenny Hurling legend Richie Hogan well on the announcement of his retirement, and Horse Sport Ireland (356, +239%) as Michael Murphy and Cleverboy major medalled once again after they won silver at the European Championships in Riesenbeck.

IWA- Sport (2,705) topped the average engagements per 1,000 followers metric as they wished the Irish Wheelchair Basketball team well on their way to Sarajevo ahead of the European Championships.

The IRFU provided the top content on Facebook for the second month in a row, as they savoured a special night in Paris and victory over the Springboks, their post having generated over 45,000 public engagements to date.

 

September 2023 Highlights on Instagram

 

 

Instagram activity fell slightly once again, however the 2,042 posts (-5%) generated an incredible 6.33 million engagements (+59%), over 77% of the total engagements for September’s analysis.

For the second month in a row the League of Ireland account topped the activity charts, their 234 posts (-1%) 197 posts included this congratulatory post as Katie McCabe was nominated for the prestigious Ballon D’Or.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by League of Ireland (@leagueofireland)

In second, the Ireland Football account (176, +507%) took us behind the scenes as the WNT prepared to play at the Aviva for the first time, and in third, the URC (164, +128%) featured imagery post-match of Johnny Sexton and Springbok captain Siya Kolise swapping shirts.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ireland Football (@irelandfootball)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

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

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Irish Rugby (@irishrugby)

 

Team Ireland (20, +100%) congratulated Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch on their incredible performance on the final day of the World Rowing Championships as they won Bronze in the Men’s Double Sculls. The LOI Women’s Premier Division account (44, +69%) wished Abbie Larkin the best of luck as she completed her move to Glasgow City.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Team Ireland (@team_ireland_olympic)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Team Ireland (@team_ireland_olympic)

Irish Rugby topped the average engagements per post rankings for the fifth month in a row with an average of 19,652 public engagements per post (+43%) as Dermot Kennedy showed his support for the team in Paris.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Irish Rugby (@irishrugby)

Ireland Football in second (6,240, +2%) saw the Men’s U21 team score two late goals to earn a massive three points against Turkey as they got their EURO 2025 qualification campaign underway.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ireland Football (@irelandfootball)

And in third the URC showed The Rugby Guy’s ‘Goose Step Challenge’ from South Africa.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

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


Canoeing Ireland (94, +96%) celebrated as Ronan Foley became World Champion at the U23 Canoe Marathon World Championships (link), and Ireland Lacrosse (223, +43%) announced the rosters of the 3 Éire teams competing at LAXNA (link).

Irish Rugby (4,251) took top spot for the ‘average engagements per 1000 followers’ metric, followed by Ireland Football (3,615) and the League of Ireland (2,982).

Irish Rugby posted the top performing content on Instagram in September, as Bundee Aki continued his scintillating run of form as he was named Player of the Match against South Africa on the occasion of winning his 50th Cap. To date the post has generated over 125,000 public engagements.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

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

September 2023 Highlights on TikTok

 

205 TikToks were posted by member organisations in September, and whilst this is a 20% decrease on activity, the content generated over 1.4 million engagements (+185%) and an incredible 17 million views (+145%).

The views were dominated by the Irish Rugby (6.8 million), United Rugby Championship (5.25 million) and Ireland Football (4.5 million) accounts.

For the second month in a row, HRI topped the activity charts with 37 posts (-22%), their most viewed content featured 80/1 outsider Maud Gonne Spirit winning the feature race at Listowel Races, with their most engaged with content featuring Henry Longfellow in the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes.

@hriracing Henry Longfellow was all class in the @Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes 😮‍💨 #irishchampionsfestival #horseracing #fasthorses ♬ Satisfaction x Maneater – DAVO

In second, Irish Rugby (33) and Jamison Gibson Park introduced the thunder clap to Tours (link), and in third the URC (32) celebrated the moment Johnny Sexton became Ireland’s record points scorer.

@urc The moment Johnny Sexton became Ireland’s record points scorer 😍☘️ #rugby #rwc2023 #sports ♬ original sound – United Rugby Championship

When ranked by average engagement per post, Irish Rugby topped the charts (21,759) followed by Ireland Football (18,398) and the URC (8,308).

The Ireland Football account showed that spirits were high in the Men’s camp as they welcomed back Evan Ferguson after he became the third youngest player to score a hat-trick in the history of the Premier League.

@ireland “The cameras following you now, did you score a hat-trick?!” 😂 Shane Duffy staight into Evan as he arrives for camp 😅😂 #evanferguson #shaneduffy #ireland #irelandfootball #coybig #premierleague ♬ original sound – Ireland

Outside of rugby, Dublin GAA (1,328) looked back to 2015 as Alan Brogan scored late on to crown Dublin as the All-Ireland Champions.

@dubgaaofficial #OnThisDay in 2015, Alan Brogan kicked this inspirational late score as Dublin were crowned All-Ireland champions 👕🏆 #UpTheDubs #dublingaa #Dublin #gaa #football ♬ original sound – Dublin GAA

The League of Ireland (900) featured this wonder strike from Drogheda United’s Dayle Rooney.

@leagueofireland OH MY GOAL! @droghedaunitedfcofficial #LOI | #FYP #ROONEY ♬ original sound – League of Ireland

And Team Ireland (258) gave us a dual fan-cam from the World Rowing.

@teamirelandolympic The best Irish fan-cam 💚☘️😍 📹 World Rowing #Rowing #WorldRowing #rowingtiktok #TeamIreland #Ireland ♬ original sound – Team Ireland

Whilst the URC provided the most viewed post on the platform

@urc Goose step challenge with the one & only @The Rugby Guy 😍 #rugby #sports #unitedrugbychampionship ♬ original sound – United Rugby Championship

Irish Rugby provided the piece of content that generated the most public engagements in the form of likes, comments and shares. This clip of the Irish Team arriving for their Welcome and ‘RWC Capping’ ceremony has generated over 323,000 public engagements to date.

@irishrugby Arriving to our welcome ceremony in style! 😎 #TeamOfUs ♬ Cobrastyle by Teddybears – fifa.songs | FIFA Song Account

*******

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