Social Media Study Analyzes the Most Popular Players, Teams, Sponsors and Trends for the 2022 World Cup

Social Media Study Analyzes the Most Popular Players, Teams, Sponsors and Trends as the World Cup Begins on Sunday

A team of faculty from the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University released a study today that analyzes social media data and global news surrounding popular players, teams, and sponsors, as well as trends such as gambling that are driving online conversation around the FIFA World Cup.

A total of 319,427 tweets, with the potential impressions of 4.7 billion, were collected on World Cup’s most discussed players. Highlights from the study, which collected data from Oct. 17- Nov. 16, 2022 include the following:

• Lionel Messi of Argentina was identified as the most popular player, as he was mentioned in 125,116 tweets. The most popular topics/terms related to him included references to him as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT), his picks for the winning teams (“Messi picks France and Brazil as favorites to win”); and how this will be his fifth and last World Cup.
• Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal was the second-most discussed player with 104,528 mentions. Even before the controversy with his team this week, Manchester United was mentioned frequently as well as his personal World Cup record and successes for home country Portugal.
• In addition, 76,627 social media posts were collected on sports gambling and the World Cup in English. With almost 2 Billion potential impressions, and 84% positive sentiment rate, users viewed betting on their favorite teams positively with the most prevalent betting on Argentina as the 2022 World Cup’s winner. #Argentina and #SaludoAlbiceleste, the name of the Argentina national football team, were used most frequently.
• Duelbits, a crypto casino, was the most frequently mentioned online gambling site, and it was most frequently associated with predictions favoring Argentina.
• During the same time period, social media posts 170,532 posts on Twitter, YouTube were studied using the hashtags and keywords “#Fifaworldcup” and “2022 world cup” and ad, sponsor, commercial, campaign, partner, celebrity.
• Despite the fact that 3 out of every 4 users believe there are too many ads on social media, the sentiment analysis for FIFA World Cup ads were overwhelmingly positive at 82%
• Hyundai partnered with South Korean boy band BTS to ride the wave of Korean pop, while Mariah Carey, Tom Brady and Jon Hamm appear in campaigns by Fox Sports. Messi appeared alongside numerous brands such as Pepsi, Gatorade, Byju’s, and David Beckham emerged as the ambassador for FIFA World Cup by appearing in numerous commercials including one for Frito-Lay.
• An interesting and frequently discussed celebrity was BTS’s Jungkook, who will perform at the FIFA World Cup’s opening ceremony. Fans flooded Twitter with praise and celebration of the young pop star, UNICEF ambassador, Grammy nominee and youngest recipient of South Korea’s Order of Cultural Merit. Trending hashtags such as #jungkook, #jungkookatfifaworldcup and keywords, “youngest recipient,” “special presidential envoy,” etc. mentioned in over 130,000 posts.

The full studies which can be found here, were conducted by faculty Dr. Jin-A Choi, Dr. Yi Luo, Dr. Stephen Andon, Dr. Bond Benton, Dr. Keith Strudler and Mr. Keith Green from the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication, which provides social media analytics tools and training for faculty and students for classroom learning and research projects.

The team also released a separate study earlier in the week that analyzes social media data and global news surrounding various boycott and protest movements as the FIFA World Cup kicks off this weekend in Qatar.

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About the School of Communication and Media: Founded in 2012, the School of Communication and Media offers a range of dynamic programs in communication and media to a talented and diverse student population of over 1,500. Offering degrees in film and television, social media and public relations, advertising, journalism and digital media, sports communication, animation and visual effects, and an MA in public and organizational relations, the School prepares the next generation of communication and media practitioners and leaders. The School houses award-winning student programs that include WMSC Radio, The Montclarion newspaper, Hawk Communications PR Agency, the Red Hawk Sports Network, Hawk+ OTT streaming platform, and News Lab, as well as the Center for Cooperative Media, which serves the public by working to grow and strengthen local journalism. Recent national School recognitions include an Edward R. Murrow Award, several Marconi Award nominations, and a College Television Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Contact: Keith Green, School of Communication and Media, 973-655-3701 or greenk@montclair.edu