The Social Media Kings of the NFL

Article By Peter Welch

Last Updated: Mar 14^th, 2024

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With millions of football fans turning to the likes of YouTube, Instagram, X, and TikTok to check the latest sporting news, it’s never been more important for NFL teams and players to have a strong social media presence. But which franchises and athletes dominate online? We decided to find out…

Comparing the total user searches across the four social media sites, we’ve been able to rank the players and teams who dominate each platform. Read on to see where your favorites finish!

The 10 Most Viral NFL Teams

Taking top spot as the NFL’s most viral franchise, the Dallas Cowboys are the subject of an astounding 308,376,000 annual user searches across YouTube (95.1 million), X (26 million), Instagram (123.4 million) and TikTok (63.9 million) – including having the most of all teams across all four platforms.

Incredibly, the Cowboys actually boast more searches on Instagram than all other teams’ total volumes, except the Bills, Eagles, Dolphins and Chiefs, while the Texan franchise’s total amount is almost equal to the entire combined volume of the Minnesota Vikings (114.1 million), Detroit Lions (112.4 million) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (93.5 million), who rank eighth to tenth, respectively.

Next up, the Buffalo Bills take silver, with an aggregate social media search volume of 178.7 million, including over 55 million searches for the franchise on YouTube and 71.5 million on Instagram.

In third, we have last season’s Super Bowl runner up, the Philadelphia Eagles, whose social search volume totals 143.4 million across the four major platforms – including nearly 30 million people searching the team’s TikTok hashtag.

They’re followed by the Miami Dolphins (129.7 million) and Kansas City Chiefs (124.1 million), while the Green Bay Packers take sixth with 121.8 million searches across the social media sites. Finally, the Chicago Bears rank seventh on our index, with 114.3 million social media searches, ahead of the Vikings, Lions and Bucs.

The 10 Most Viral NFL Players

Ranked as the No. 1 viral sensation, when compared against all other NFL athletes, we have New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, with a whopping 110,787,000 user searches across YouTube (34.2 million), X (9.3 million), Instagram (44.3 million) and TikTok (23 million).

Next up, Patrick Mahomes is the subject of almost 82.8 million searches across the core social media platforms, including more than 25.5 million on YouTube and 33.1 million on Instagram. He’s followed by Jalen Hurts (61.3 million) and Joe Burrow (55.1 million), while Travis Kelce (47.6 million) and Tua Tagovailoa (45.6 million) take fifth and sixth, respectively.

Meanwhile, legendary quarterback Russell Wilson ranks seventh, with over 43 million searches across social sites – including 17.2 million on Instagram - ahead of Brock Purdy (42.5 million). Finally, Odell Beckham Jr. (41 million) and Jimmy Garoppolo (35.6 million) round our Top 10, meaning there’s no room for iconic QB and widely regarded GOAT Tom Brady!

Which Platforms Do Fans Use to Find Their Favorite Players and Teams?

Analyzing our data, it’s clear to see that Instagram is the preferred social media site among fans searching for the latest updates from their favorite franchises and athletes.

In fact, our research reveals that the 10 most popular teams boast a combined half a billion supporter searches (576.4 million) - in addition to a quarter of a billion searches across the Top 10 players (226.2 million).

Next up, video content is clearly on trend, with a combined 444 million searches for our 10 franchises across YouTube, followed by TikTok (298.6 million), while X (121.4 million) is the fourth favorite, indicating that news and wordy updates are a last resort!

It’s interesting to see which NFL franchises and players dominate online and how this correlates with on-field success – though, of course, this could all change depending on the way the upcoming season goes!

In the meantime, discover all the latest sports betting odds and picks, or explore even more interesting insight over on our blog.