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Analysis of Olympic Athletes’ Social Media Growth and Brand Partnerships in Paris 2024 

26 July 2024

As Olympic athletes gear up for the official kick-off to Paris 2024, fans tune in globally to follow athletes’ journeys, mostly via social media and digital media platforms. Not only are these Olympians the best athletes in the world, but they are also some of the most well-known personal brands. Thus, followers expect Olympic athletes to uphold their notoriety. 

This has manifested in athletes’ presence on social media platforms, brand partnership announcements, business launches, and even political stands. Athletes and brands are under pressure, especially during the Olympics, to perform on and off the field. 

We put athletes and brands to the test, to monitor how athletes’ and brands’ social media presence and emerging partnerships affect following, interactions, and engagement from after the Olympic trials leading up to the week before the games. 

A New Era of Social Media for Olympians 

When each Olympics comes around, new athletes step into the limelight, accelerating into stardom, while brands attach themselves to veteran Olympians. This is a vital moment for brands to weave in front of hundreds of millions globally. 

Olympic brand partnerships are shifting this year, with the IOC’s (International Olympic Committee) adoption of Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter. This rule controls advertising by both official sponsors and others attempting to limit “ambush marketing” during the games period, July 19, 2024, to August 13, 2024. 

This Rule limits how Olympic Partner Sponsors (“OP Sponsors”) can advertise participants. For example, OP Sponsors can advertise participants’ images, names, or sports performances with necessary consent, and run Congradulatory Advertising, as long as the ad doesn’t imply enhancements to performance from the product or service. 

Those who are not OP Sponsors have strict rules to follow when advertising around the games, including limitations to any “Olympic Properties”. This includes the Olympic symbols, Paris 2024 mascots, national Olympic team emblems, and other symbolic Olympic rhetoric. 

While this means limitations for brands, it means more power to athletes’ brand partnership selections and management. 

Data Analysis: Olympic Athletes’ Social Media Growth and Brand Partnerships Across Instagram and X for Paris 2024 

Big players such as Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola, Powerade, Ralph Lauren, and SKIMS attached themselves to the most renowned including Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, LeBron James, Caeleb Dressel, Coco Guaff, and Sha’Carri Richardson for the Paris 2024 games. 

While following the Olympics, we wanted to monitor how athletes’ social media pages, large and small, transformed leading up to the opening ceremony. We analyzed the US Women’s National Gymnastics Team and top USA Men’s and Women’s Swimmers on Instagram and X, to put this to the test. 

We analyzed 12 athletes from June 15 to July 21, 2024, to see how Olympic promotions affect athlete’s social media followings and engagement. As mentioned above, these athletes include the USA women’s gymnastics team and key players from the USA men’s and women’s swimming teams. 

This data analysis was conducted with Metricool’s Competitor Analysis feature, available for any public Instagram, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch account. This pulls in key account growth and engagement metrics, allowing brands to analyze marketing efforts and top-performing strategies in the period.

These athletes include gymnasts Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera, and swimmers Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Thomas Heilman, and Chris Giuliano. 

Almost every analyzed athlete’s Instagram and X social media profiles increased in following and engagement. 

USA Gymnasts and Swimmers Take Instagram Gold

This data reveals key brand partnerships for the games, such as USA gymnast Simone Biles publishing sponsored posts with Athleta and Visa, and USA gymnast Sunisa Lee and swimmer Caeleb Dressel announcing partnerships with SKIMS. 

USA Swimmer Katie Ledecky announced five brand partnerships on Instagram alone, including official team USA gear Ralph Lauren, Athleta, LaCroix, Simon Audio, and CorePower. In the period, her third top-performing reel included a promotion of her audiobook, Just Add Water. 

We also unveiled partnerships and social media growth with ascending Olympians, such as Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Hezley Rivera, Simone Manuel, Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, and Thomas Heilman. 

Account Following Data 

  • USA gymnast Simone Biles gained 100,281 followers in less than a month reaching over 7.3 million, with an average engagement rate of 4.35% and total likes on Reels and posts reaching 3,197,737.
  • USA gymnasts Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles gained 10,000 followers, while Carey received 14,687 new followers. 
  • All analyzed USA swimmers saw follower increases, with Katie Ledecky leading at 3,702 new followers.
  • While Simone Manuel and Caeleb Dressel increased followers on Instagram, both athletes lost followers on X. 

Athlete Account Engagement 

  • Thomas Heilman and Chris Giuliano saw the highest engagement rates on Instagram, at 40% and 75% respectively.
  • Hezly Rivera and Jade Carey reached the highest engagement rates on Instagram amongst the gymnasts, 23% and 13% respectively. 
  • Jade Carey and Simone Manuel saw the highest engagement rates on X, 6.05% and 5.4%, respectively. 

Account Interactions 

  • All gymnasts experienced interaction increases of over 14%, with Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera’s interactions (likes and comments) growing the fastest on Instagram. 
  • Regan Smith and Simone Manuel had the highest post and Reel interaction growth, with Regan Smith’s post comments on Instagram increasing by 1,827%.
  • Katie Ledecky’s X interactions skyrocketed, growing in likes by 3,431% and reposts by 2,527%.

Access the full findings and raw data here.

Data Conclusions 

Let’s break down this data further and translate how this relates to social media discourse and online Olympic participation leading into Paris 2024.

Instagram 

Our data concluded that Instagram dominates the social media landscape in Olympic athlete sponsorships. All athletes saw followers and interaction increases on Instagram, and more sponsored posts were published on this network. 

When analyzing engagement rates, it’s important to note that the largest account’s engagement rates may seem more minimal, however, this is mostly due to the size of their account. For example, even though Simone Biles has the most likes and comments on her posts, the overall engagement rate is 4.35%. 

On the other hand, many of the “smaller” athlete accounts experienced higher engagement rates and larger interaction growth. For example, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera, with 345,958 followers and 106,611 followers, saw overall engagement rates of 13.72% and 23.06% respectively. 

Despite only posting 3 times in the period, swimmers Thomas Heilman and Chris Giuliano had the highest audience engagement, 40% and 75% respectively. Heilman’s top two Instagram posts in the period reached 34% and 20% engagement. 

There were 25 sponsored posts and brand partnership announcements on Instagram, compared to X’s 2. These partnerships included the following brands: 

  • SKIMS
  • Ralph Lauren 
  • Athleta
  • Visa
  • LaCroix 
  • Nulopetfood
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • Toyota
  • American Kidney Fund 
  • Too Good and Co. 
  • Bliss 
  • Drink Bubblr 
  • Milani Cosmetics 
  • r.e.m. beauty 
  • CorePower
  • JCrew

X

On the other hand, X hasn’t shown as much importance for social media marketing going into Paris 2024. However, athletes Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, and Jordan Chiles were the most active on X, publishing over 5 times in the period. Katie Ledecky published 5 times on X and Simone Manuel 3, while Caeleb Dressel only posted once, Chris Giuliano did not utilize X, and Thomas Heilman is not an X user. 

Follower numbers were not as significant on X as on Instagram, with Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles gaining the most followers amongst all athletes, with 919 and 476 respectively. Simone Manuel and Caeleb Dressel lost X followers, likely due to lower activity. 

While brand partnerships weren’t popular, brand mentions on X played an important role in this network. Jordan Chiles was mentioned by Beyoncé, Michael Jordan, and Meg Thee Stallion on X, while Jade Carey had shout-outs from NYX Cosmetics and Wendy’s X accounts. 

While this data doesn’t encompass the entire Olympic social media sphere, it shows just how important social media’s role is for advertising and marketing during this period. As the games continue, we will monitor these athletes and key brand partnerships to analyze the impact of these campaigns. 

Paris 2024 Creator Collective 

For the first time, NBCUniversal announced a “Paris Creator Collective” featuring 27 creators, in partnership with Meta, Overtime, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. NBCUniversal will send these 27 creators to report the Olympics from the ground, in a new perspective. 

NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel states, “Creators participating in this new program will bring a unique perspective to fans of the Olympic Games. From the athletes to the food to the celebration, creators will offer their communities of fans a truly unique, engaging look at this summer’s global gathering in Paris.”

Source: NBC Sports

This is an effort to reach the next generation of fans and creators and offer a more accessible viewing experience to the public through custom content. 

Here is the full list of creators by platform: 

Meta: 

Overtime: 

Snapchat: 

TikTok: 

YouTube:

Paris 2024 Partners and Sponsors 

Paris 2024’s official website lists the official sponsors and supporters of the Olympics, who contribute to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This year there are 14 Worldwide Partners, which include the following: 

  • Airbnb 
  • Alibaba 
  • Allianz 
  • Atos 
  • Bridgestone 
  • Coca-Cola 
  • Deloitte 
  • Intel 
  • Omega 
  • Panasonic 
  • P&G
  • Samsung 
  • Toyota 
  • Visa 

There are 65+ other Premium Partners, Official Partners, and Official Supporters for Paris 2024. These stakeholders help promote the games and perpetuate the legacy of the Olympic games. 

Conclusions 

After evaluating the social media atmosphere surrounding the Paris 2024 Olympics, brands across all industries understand the impact of social media marketing and athlete promotion during highly attended and participative events. 

Meanwhile, with Rule 40, athletes have more control over selecting their brand partnerships and how they are promoting them during the games period. While the largest brands continue to sponsor the largest athletes, there is ample coverage of those athletes heading into their first Olympic games. 

Social media platforms are committed to targeting Gen Z users as a way to tap in and participate in Paris 2024. Influencers will play a huge role in this, allowing viewers to see on-the-ground footage of a world phenomenon, the Olympics. 

Anniston Ward Anniston Ward , 26 July 2024
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