Which club has the most social media fans?

Published by
Stephen Marson

AFL fans are usually bragging about the fact their club is the best in the league, and their fans are the most loyal and supportive, but what do the statistics say?

Digital Sports Labs, an Australian website dealing with sports, business and technology, has crunched the numbers, looking at each AFL club's social media following to determine which club is in fact the most followed across the country.

They looked at each side's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers as well as the club's YouTube subscribers, and some of the results are a little interesting. 

There's no surprise however about which side is at the top of the list, with Collingwood have a combined 634,987 fans across all four social media platforms.

Essendon come in a close second as two of the 'big four' Victorian clubs led the way, although Hawthorn and Adelaide find themselves above Carlton and Richmond, and by a fair margin too.

Hawthorn are in third with 580,427 fans, well clear of Adelaide in fourth (538,645), as the Blues (523,764) and Tigers (518,751) round out the only six clubs to boast over half a million fans.

At the other end of the table, it's understandable both Gold Coast and GWS are in the bottom two places, although the Suns above the Giants could be a little surprising given the differing successes of both clubs since their inception.

Melbourne's position on the table is also quite interesting, with the Demons above only the two expansion clubs in 16th place.

With the Demons one of the league's oldest clubs, maybe their fans are also a little older and unfamiliar with social media?

Fremantle in 11th and GWS in 18th are the only two clubs with official YouTube channels, which could be costing both clubs thousands of extra fans.

Digital Sports Labs' breakdown of the digital community in Australian sport 

Published by
Stephen Marson