TikTok Establishes Itself as the Fastest-Growing Social Network in European National Leagues

The final fortnight of May marked the end of the 2023-2024 season for Europe’s top national football leagues. With the season’s conclusion, the Data Insights team at Samba Digital analysed the digital performances of all the clubs from the five major national competitions on the main social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and TikTok) to identify key trends in football fans’ habits and consumption.

The first major finding is that TikTok has become the social network with the most new followers across all five national leagues.

The most significant TikTok growth was seen among the clubs in La Liga. Throughout the 2023-2024 season, which began in mid-August 2023 and ended in the second half of May 2024, La Liga’s 20 clubs saw a growth of 57.88 million new followers. This performance accounts for 57.98% of all new followers accumulated by the 20 Spanish clubs in La Liga during the season.

Contrary to what might be expected, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona were not the main drivers of this growth. Together, these two famous Spanish clubs accounted for “only” 22.45% of the total new followers. Neither of them topped the list for the most new followers. Atlético de Madrid led with 8.9 million, followed by Real Madrid with 8.7 million. Barcelona, having had a season of highs and lows, came fourth with 4.3 million new followers, behind Real Sociedad with 5.6 million.

@atleticodemadrid

English Clubs See Less Growth Compared to Spanish Clubs

TikTok also emerged as the social network with the most new followers among Premier League clubs last season. With around 23.3 million new followers, the Chinese social network surpassed the growth obtained by clubs on Instagram by about 2.1 million. However, compared to the Spanish league, the growth of English clubs was 60% lower.

In Spain, Atlético de Madrid was the club that renewed its base of new followers on TikTok the most, while in England, this position was held by Tottenham Hotspur. The north London team gained 4.7 million new followers, followed by Manchester City with 4.5 million and Liverpool FC with 4.1 million.

@mancity Our champions 🩵🏆 #ManCity #PremierLeague ♬ som original – youngsloow

Italy and France Show Notable Performances

Of the 24 million new followers that Italian Lega Serie A club profiles gained last season, 71.45% were specifically on TikTok. This proportion is even higher in France: 112.76%. However, in terms of overall growth in profiles, the Italians have the advantage: 17.2 million new users compared to 4.1 million from the 18 French clubs in Ligue 1.

The standout club between the two countries was Juventus, with 6.8 million new followers, compared to AS Roma’s 4 million, AC Milan’s 2.7 million, and Inter Milan’s 2.3 million. In France, Paris Saint-Germain, which won the French championship and reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals, saw the most growth last season with 1.5 million new followers. Overall, PSG amassed 42.4 million followers compared to Juventus’ 33 million.

Top 10 Clubs with the Most TikTok Followers: