After a record-breaking March 2022, April saw a decline in both activity (-10 per cent) and engagements (-40 per cent). After three consecutive ‘positive’ months for the analysis, in which we saw an increase for every key metric, April saw the first dip for 2022.

To put it in context though, the month was still the third busiest in the history of producing this data and the comparison to where we were twelve months ago is impressive by any standard.

  • Posts have increased 65 per cent from 6,800 to 11,237
  • Engagements have increased 25 per cent from 2,032,747 to 2,550,548

The three busiest months on record have been set in the past seven months.

  1. March 2022: 12,426 posts
  2. September 2021: 11,247 posts
  3. April 2022: 11,237 posts

With over 2.5 million engagements there was still a huge amount of excellent content to review and analyse.

We saw a noticeable increase in focus on Women’s sport and associated content and in a first for the analysis, an eSports post featured in the top content for the month.

The FAI showcased the inclusion of Robbie Keane in EA Sport’s FUT Captains Team 2 – the Instagram post generated over 6,600 public engagements. The popularity of the post is reflective of the growing importance and relevance of eSports to rights holders across Ireland.

We will be discussing both these developments at our Women in Sport Conference on May 19th and in a Members Round Table on eSports in July.

 

 

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The new ‘Engagements per 1,000 Followers’ metric highlights excellent work from both Volleyball Ireland and Golf Ireland in April.

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.

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.

 

 

April 2022 Highlights on Twitter

 

 

 

The platform’s 6,593 posts were a 4% per cent decrease (from 6,838 to 6,593 posts) on March’s record-breaking figures but April 2022 was the second busiest month for the platform since Olytico’s analysis began.

The marginal decrease in activity resulted in a 32 per cent decrease in engagements across the platform (from 413,199 to 279,824 engagements).

Leinster topped the activity charts for the first time since March 2021, their 553 tweets, an increase of 43 per cent on March 2022.

With three inter-pro fixtures and a trip to South Africa to play the Cell C Sharks and the DHL Stormers, it has been a bumper month for the Province. Leinster’s top content on Twitter came with a Player of the Match performance from Alex Soroka; Alex is Irish-born to Ukrainian parents and is raising money for a children’s hospital in Kiev and their efforts to support sick children through the ongoing war. The GAA followed in second (528, +1 per cent) with Dublin GAA in third (460, +6 per cent).

 


Cycling Ireland (156, +21 per cent) kept followers up to date with the latest from the #TissotNationsCup as Mia Griffin performed admirably finishing 7th overall in the Omnium on 78 points and Golf Ireland (153, +38%) showcased the strength of the Irish talent competing at The Masters in Augusta.

 


The top three accounts for Twitter engagement reflect the story of the platform’s month, with the FAI in first (with an average of 198 engagements per post) seeing a 46 per cent decrease in average engagements, and Irish Rugby in third (average of 133 engagements per post) seeing a 64 per cent decrease in average engagements.

Sandwiched between the two in second, the GPA (145, +390 per cent) announced that the motion regarding amalgamation with the GAA and LGFA had been passed overwhelmingly at the Camogie Congress, another key step towards equality within the Gaelic games family.

In a first for our analysis, the top three tweets from the top account (FAI) featured Women’s Sport, specifically the WNT’s draw against Sweden.

The game launched Sky’s ground-breaking #outbelieve campaign, and Katie McCabe’s goal and Player of the Match performance kept the WNT in the hunt for the World Cup.

 


Special mentions to Badminton Ireland (14, +74 per cent) who saw Nhat Nguyen progress into the Quarter Final of the 2022 European Championship and Vision Sports Ireland (14, +30%) as they worked with Tennis Ireland to facilitate the first blind/VI tennis tournament in over two years at Shankill Tennis Club.

 


In the fourth month of our new metric, ranking organisations in accordance with their ‘average number of engagements per 1000 followers’, Golf Ireland topped the ranking with an average of 681 engagements per 1,000 followers as the Irish Under-16 team won a Quadrangular tournament against Wales, Scotland and Netherlands.

Special mention to the Women’s National League in second (457), they have placed in the top three for the last three months and crowned Stephanie Roche as the #WNL Player of the Month for March (link). In third, and in the top three for the first time, Volleyball Ireland (405) crowned an impressive month on social as they celebrated the U19 Women’s team finishing 2nd in the Small Countries Championships.

 


The most engaged with content on Twitter came as the Gaelic Players Association remembered Red Óg Murphy, a young man gone far too early

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April 2022 Highlights on Facebook

 

 

Facebook activity fell for the first time in four months, and the 18 per cent reduction (from 3,591 to 2,955 posts) led to a significant 38 per cent decrease in engagements (from 670,353 to 413,244 engagements).

Nineteen of the accounts covered in the analysis saw a reduction in activity from the previous month, and of those that saw an increase, five were single-digit percentage increases, going some way to explaining the month’s results.

The GAA (352 posts, an increase of 4 per cent on the previous month) topped the activity charts with their top content featuring Lee Chin’s last-minute leveller against Galway, Leinster rugby in second (281, +3 per cent) gave young fan Adam Reddington a match-week experience to remember and the League of Ireland in third (260, +81 per cent) featured Shamrock Rovers’ Aaron Greene’s strike against Shelbourne.

Ulster Rugby topped the engagement charts for the very first time, their average of 452 engagements per post, an increase of 6 per cent on March.

In another first for the analysis, the top content from one of the four Provinces featured Women’s Rugby, and illustrates the advancements that are being made both on and off the field; footage of Ireland’s Neve Jones from the TikTok Women’s Six Nations resonated with fans and resulted in over 5,000 public engagements and currently a staggering 5.7 million views (link to watch).

Special mentions to Gymnastics Ireland in seventh (250, +122 per cent) and Eamon Montgomery who won bronze on Floor at the 2022 FIG World Cup in Baku and Basketball Ireland (107, +167 per cent) whose Men’s U18 team jetted off to the Four Nations tournament as they build to this summer’s FIBA European Championships in Romania.

In our new metric, Badminton Ireland (average of 648 engagements per 1,000 followers, +288 per cent) topped the table, followed by Volleyball Ireland (584) and Golf Ireland (422).

The top Facebook content for April came from the United Rugby Championship, as the Championship enters the business end of the season, the DHL Stormer’s ‘unique’ cheerleading content has been viewed over 1.1 million times to date and has generated over 23,000 public engagements.

 

April 2022 Highlights on Instagram

 

 

With just under 1,700 posts last month, activity on the platform fell 15 per cent compared to March (from 1,997 to 1,689 posts) and this resulted in a 42 per cent decrease in engagements (from 3.2 million to 1,857,480).

Seven of the top ten accounts ranked by engagements saw a decrease in their average engagements per post, and a significant decrease for both the IRFU (-58 per cent) and the FAI  (-51 per cent) is the main driver for this month’s results.

The League of Ireland account (247 posts, an increase of 98 per cent on the previous month) topped the activity charts for the first time since September 2021, their top post featured LOITV footage of Finn Harps’ Mark Timlin’s late equaliser against Bohemians.

 


In second, Leinster Rugby (110, +4 per cent) announced the retirements of Dan Leavy, Sean Cronin and former player Sean O’Brien and in third, Munster Rugby (110, +16 per cent) announced that Graham Rowntree will be promoted to the role of Head Coach from 1st July.

Irish Sailing (49, +36 per cent) kept fans up to date with The 2022 Irish Sailing Youth National Championships and IWA-Sport, in their highest position to date (16th with 35 posts, +13 per cent) began the Para Athletics season with the Leinster Games at the Carlow IT Athletics facility.

The GAA (with an average of 4,591 engagements per post, -8 per cent) topped the engagement charts with Irish Rugby (3,414, -58 per cent) in second and Munster Rugby (2,683, +29 per cent) in third. The GAA’s most engaged with post featured David Clifford’s goal against Mayo as Kerry claimed the Allianz Football League Division 1 trophy.

Special mentions to the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (685, +22 per cent) who saw Kerry promoted to Division 1 of the Lidl Ladies Football National League, Golf Ireland (276, +146 per cent) who featured wholesome family content from Augusta and Swim Ireland (263, +104 per cent) who celebrated Daniel Wiffen smashing the Irish Senior 400m Freestyle Record at the Malmsten Swim Open in Stockholm.

 

 

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Volleyball Ireland (4,030, +72 per cent) topped the Instagram ‘Engagements per 1,000 followers’ chart’ for the first time as success on the court in the CEV Small Countries Association Championships resulted in a hat-trick of success across all three of the main social channels. The League of Ireland (2,689, +41 per cent) finished second, with Basketball Ireland (2,467, -26 per cent) in third.

The top Instagram post for April came from the IRFU as Leinster’s Dan Leavy announced his immediate retirement from the game. The post generated over 22,000 engagements in the form of likes and comments.

 

 

April 2022 Engagement Per 1,000 Followers

 

 

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Sport for Business Partners