Shunt's 2019 STAR Report provides key insights and intelligence into how Australian sport is using social media - essential reading for any digital or communications professional working in the industry.

1. R
RANKSPORTS
S T
TEAMS ATHLETES
A
2019 STAR REPORT

2. AUSTRALIAN SPORTS INDUSTRY
SOCIAL MEDIA APPLICATION
Now entering its third year, Shunt’s research into the application of social media by the
Australian sport’s industry now encompasses, 4,000 rights-holders and athletes 7,500 accounts
(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn) with a combined audience in excess of 200 million.
Framework
Organisation (and athlete) inclusion guidelines;
• Participation to be undertaken nationally, and
ideally internationally at scale
• Inclusion in Olympic and/or Commonwealth
Games
• National body (NSO) with state and territory
representative offices (SSO’s)
• Government agency or department supporting
the Australian sport and recreation industry
• Peak body that promotes, educates and
supports the Australian sport and recreation
industry
• Major Australian based sporting event or venue
(with ‘local’ social media accounts)
• International representative team, national or
regional team, league or championship
• National representative athlete competing
internationally and/or for one of the identified
domestic leagues
• Venue that regularly hosts sporting events
Scope
Shunt monitors the social media footprint of the following;
• NSO’s (National Sporting Organisations)
• SSO’s (State Sporting Organisations)
• IRT’s (International Representative Teams)
• NL’s (National Leagues or Championships)
• NT’s (National Teams)
• RL’s (Regional Leagues)
• RT’s (Regional Teams)
• Government agencies and departments
• HPO’s (High-Performance Organisations)
• Major domestic sports events
• Recreational organisations
• Industry peak bodies
• Sports venues
• Motorsport
• Athletes

3. EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION-MAKING
Audience
Engagement
Productivity
Performance
Social Media
EDMs
Website (GA)
Apps/Other
THOUGHT-STARTERS
At Shunt we actively encourage Australian sport to adopt a data-driven, evidence-based approach to digital communications.
As social media has matured the days of measuring success solely based on increases in audience are well behind-us. Rather, we advocate an holistic approach that
encompasses the longitudinal tracking of audience growth coupled with engagement, performance and productivity metrics.
This report includes data insights and intelligence thought-starters to help your sport achieve its social media goals.

4. Cricket
68.2m Audience
34.1% Social Share
NRL
24.9m Audience
12.5% Social Share
AFL
23.3m Audience
11.6% Social Share
Motorsport
12.1m Audience
6.0% Social Share
Football
11.7m Audience
5.8% Social Share
Surfing
11.3m Audience
5.7% Social Share
Basketball
9.4m Audience
4.7% Social Share
Tennis
7.9m Audience
3.9% Social Share
SUPER 60
7.2m Audience
3.6% Social Share
Rugby
5.8m Audience
2.9% Social Share
Athletics
3.2m Audience
1.6% Social Share
Netball
2.4m Audience
1.2% Social Share
Venues
2.3m Audience
1.2% Social Share
Golf
1.8mAudience
0.9%SocialShare
Cycling
1.6mAudience
0.8%SocialShare
Swimming
1.6mAudience
0.8%SocialShare
Motorcycling
1.3m Audience
0.6% Social Share
Ski & Snowboard
825k Audience
0.4% Social Share
Commonwealth
Games2018
710kAudience
Weightlifting
701kAudience
0.3%SocialShare
Hockey
659k Audience
0.3% Social Share
TOP 20 SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIENCE SHARE
2.0m Mick Fanning
1.6m Sally Fitzgibbons
261k mySURF.TV
234k Surfing Australia
109k Surfing Western Australia
3.5m Ben Simmons
247k NBL
192k Perth Wildcats
164k Basketball Australia
99k Liz Cambage
4.4m Australian Open
1.7m Nick Kyrgios
316k Tennis Australia
193k Sam Stosur
2.2m AFL
633k Collingwood Magpies
352k Gary Ablett*
88k AFLW
82k Abbey Holmes
71k SANFL
45k Essendon (VFL)
3.8m
Daniel Ricciardo
1.3m
Holden Racing
1.1m
Supercars
449k
Australian Grand Prix
377k
Rally Australia
59k
Simona De Silvestro
1.6m
Tim Cahill
1.1m
Socceroos
640k
A-League
522k
Ersan Gülüm
394k
Melbourne Victory
250k
Matildas
173k
FFA
644k Rugby 7s
546k BMX
539k APC
495k Baseball
494k Surf Life Saving
493k Equestrian
474k AOC
299k Triathlon
228k Boxing
199k Gymnastics
1.1m Wallabies
1.1m Quade Cooper
592k Israel Folau
429k David Pocock
323k Queensland Reds
313k Rugby Australia
2.5m NRL
1.2m Queensland Maroons
1.2m Jarryd Hayne
969k Brisbane Broncos
242k NSWRL
1.4m Michelle Jenneke
228k Sally Pearson
220k Diamonds
123k Netball Australia
485k MCG
177k Perth Arena
100k Country Rugby League
87k Super Cup (QRL)
32k Easts Tigers (QRL)
Asset Snapshot
7.9m Cricket.com.au
7.2m David Warner
3.7m Australian Cricket Team (Men)
2.9m BBL
1.2m Cricket Australia
1.1m Brisbane Heat
516k Ellyse Perry
391k Cricket NSW
200k Southern Stars
150k WBBL
45k NSW Blues (Sheffield Shield)
September 2018

5. AUDIENCE GROWTH TRAJECTORY
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Cumulative quarterly audience growth for state sporting organisations (455) inclusive of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. A range of factors influence the social
media growth trajectory of geographic markets including history, population, profile, participation and resources. Note how markets have grouped into three distinct ‘growth
bands’; (1) NSW, (2) VIC, QLD, WA, (3) SA, TAS, ACT and NT.

6. WINNERS & LOSERS
2017
2018
2017
2018
THOUGHT-STARTERS
• Graph highlights a halving of audience growth (from 8% in 2017 to 4% in 2018)
across ALL national sporting organisations.
• Facebook remains the default channel for Australian sports audiences but is
under pressure, particularly from Instagram.
• Facebook is increasingly a pay-to-play platform if audience growth and
engagement are core objectives.
THOUGHT-STARTERS
• Historically, Twitter has never enjoyed the same level of audience adoption
by Australian sports fans as Facebook or more recently Instagram.
• As with Facebook, growth is also in decline.
• NB. Global Twitter account purge in July 2018 hasn’t helped. Reducing
growth across ALL national sporting organisations by close to 1%.
• Accounts are regularly being closed or moth-balled by state sporting
organisations with associated negative impact on audience share.
• Research suggests Twitter is most effective for national sports and clubs
with high-volume, fast-breaking news content.
Source;
Growth profiles for ALL NSO’s (National Sporting Organisations) combined (79).

7. WINNERS & LOSERS
2017
2018
2017
2018
THOUGHT-STARTERS
• Instagram audience growth and channel share is growing rapidly as the
best performing of the big-4 platforms.
• Still some-way to go before audiences match Facebook.
• NB. Default channel of choice and associated rapid audience growth
observed for athletes.
• Shunt’s view is that the industry probably has another 12-18 months of
strong organic growth before it begins to taper in a similar manner to
Facebook.
THOUGHT-STARTERS
• LinkedIn experiencing rapid growth in audiences but from a low base.
• Defined by its small audience share (0-3% range) depending on rights
holder / market.
• Those with an account tend to set and forget with 50% having not posted in
the previous 12 months.
• Moderately effective for some teams, from some sports, predominantly in
Victoria.
Source;
Growth profiles for ALL NSO’s (National Sporting Organisations) combined (79).

8. FACEBOOK STILL SAFE (FOR NOW)
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Shunt’s 10-year Audience projection based on compounded growth rates for all (79) NSO’s. Instagram is the biggest social platform mover in the last 2-years having swept
past Twitter into second spot for audience size (all SSO’s) in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia.....currently also less than 500 followers in arrears for Victoria
(as at March, 2019). Even with this amount of momentum it’s still going to be a while yet before Instagram followers are likely to overtake Facebook fans.

9. MARKET INFLUENCERS
THOUGHT-STARTERS
While the history, population, profile, participation and resources of various markets have an impact on the audience share of each channel so do individual sports in driving
state sporting organisation (SSO) followers to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. In New South Wales, the market influencers are NSWRL and Cricket NSW. For Victoria
its ‘minority’ sport Badminton that has a significant influence on Facebook audience share, while in Queensland its QRL and Queensland Cricket. Looking to the Western
Australian market Surfing WA distorts Instagram and Surf Lifesaving WA impacts Twitter (shark alerts). SANFL dominates in South Australia as does cricket in Tasmania and
the ACT while in the Northern Territory the major-player is the AFL.

10. RUNNING OUT OF RUNWAY
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Facebook is rapidly running out of audience growth runway particularly in bigger, more mature markets. As can be seen here, its still achieving double-digit growth through
2018 in the smaller states and territories (SA, TAS, ACT and NT) where adoption rates of alternatives are lower and it has become the default channel of choice.

11. MARKET MARKERS
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Platform audience share is gradually shifting. Here we see net gains and losses through 2017 and 2018 with Facebook and Twitter the biggest losers at the expense of
Instagram across state and territory markets (State Sporting Organisations only).

12. REACTIVE AUDIENCE
THOUGHT-STARTERS
This graph illustrates the percentage of Facebook reactions, comments and shares each sport achieved through 2018. We can see that three sports dominate - cricket, the
AFL and NRL who between them attracted about 75% of the 111 million annual total.

13. SHOW ME YOUR EMOTION
THOUGHT-STARTERS
ALL Reactions for national sports organisations doubled from a 2014 total of
26 million to an Olympic year (2016) peak of close to 57 million then plummeted
last year back to 33 million. So what gives? Olympic cycle, rise of Instagram,
Facebook privacy/trust issues and flagging cool-factor in key demographics likely
contributing factors.
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Introduced in 2016, an expanded set of Facebook Reactions are changing the
way fans interact with their favourite sports. For ALL National Sports Organisations
the non-Like Reaction total in 2016 was 3% rising to 10% in 2018.
ALL (79) National Sporting Organisations

14. RIDE THE ROLLER COASTER
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Not even the addition of comments and shares can shift the rapid decline
in Facebook engagement for national sporting organisations in the last two
years. Both metrics peaked in 2016 then remained flat.
Is Facebook becoming a ghost-town for engagement?
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Engagement for national and international representative teams is somewhat
different to NSO’s. Peaking in 2016, it remained flat through 2017 before dropping
rapidly in 2018. The Olympic year was the best for shares while comments were
most popular in 2017.
ALL (79) National Sporting Organisations ALL (155) Inter/National Representative Teams

15. ALL-IN PERFORMANCE
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Is it possible for EVERY fan of a given right-holder to have at least one engagement (Reactions, Comments and Shares) with its Facebook account in a given year?
Theoretically yes, as this graph illustrates. Here we have developed a ratio that calculates audience size as at January 1, 2019 (minimum of 5,000 fans for inclusion) divided
by the number of total reactions through 2018. While there are several high-profile rights-holders in our Top 20 there are also a number of lesser known sports, events and
teams who have super-engaged audiences. As an example, EVERY fan of the Busselton Festival of Triathlon engaged with its Facebook account 14.68 times through 2018.

16. BANG FOR THE BUCK
THOUGHT-STARTERS
A key performance indicator for any rights-holders is how effective an individual Facebook post is at engaging an audience. This is calculated via a ratio that compares
engagement (Reactions, Comments and Shares) against posting frequency. Here we can see the Top 20 performers by sport, with cricket’s various rights-holders nationally
(34 monitored by Shunt) accumulating 34.3 million reactions through 2018 from 15,900 posts for an average of 2,158 reactions per post.

17. LOVE-LY, WOWED AND HILARIOUS
LOVE: Richmond Tigers
Today Luca met his hero, Dustin Martin
LOVE Reactions; Circa 1,000
2018 Average Per Post; 162.8
Team Rank; 2nd
Josh McGuire makes Cowboys switch
WOW Reactions; Circa 800
2018 Average Per Post; 8.7
Team Rank: 3rd
WOW: Queensland Maroons
HAHA: Adelaide Crows
Sorry goalpost, we take it back.....
HAHA Reactions; Circa 600
2018 Average Per Post; 9.5
Team Rank: 4th

18. .....THE SAD AND THE ANGRY
SAD: Australian Men’s Cricket Team
Steve Smith’s emotional press conference
SAD Reactions; Circa 31,000
2018 Average Per Post; 50.7
Team Rank; 1st
Essendon loss to Collingwood - Anzac Day
ANGRY Reactions; Circa 700
2018 Average Per Post; 5.7
Team Rank: 3rd
ANGRY: Essendon Bombers
THOUGHT-STARTERS
• Facebook post emoji reactions other than ‘Like’ were introduced early-2016. Since then they have grown in use but still require content that resonates ‘more deeply’ with
audiences to be activated. This is demonstrated in the LOVE, WOW, HAHA, SAD and ANGRY performances for the 155 national franchise teams monitored by Shunt
• LOVE is the most common alterative reaction to LIKE with eight teams recording 100+ per post averages through 2018
• WOW, HAHA, SAD and ANGRY reactions are more difficult to achieve with teams recording monthly averages typically of less than 10 per post
• Note also that teams can only generate 1-2 high performing alternate reactions per annum
THOUGHT-STARTERS (2)
When examining state/territory sports organisations three in particular appear at or near the top of each list for having the angriest fans in each market - cycling, fishing
and shooting. These three have an advocacy orientation (advocating for cycling, fishing and shooting rights) with content that is often message driven rather than a
traditional sport whose content is more delivery focussed.

19. PRODUCTIVITY
THOUGHT-STARTERS
This graph illustrates the number of Facebook posts published by each sport collectively (encompassing 760 rights-holders, representing 79 sports) through 2018. Here
we can see that percentage splits are much more evenly spread than reactions suggesting a significant disparity in the engagement performance of published content
between sports. IE. Each cricket, AFL and NRL post consistently engages a much larger audience than other sports.

20. FACEBOOK POST-MIX
THOUGHT-STARTERS
National sporting organisation use of video has grown rapidly over the
last five years from just over 3,000 published in 2014 to 11,000 in 2018.
In 2014, the format accounted for 12% of Facebook published content
increasing to 25% in 2018.
National Sporting Organisations (79)
THOUGHT-STARTERS
From a total of just under 5,000 in 2014 to over 27,000 in 2018 it’s clear
that video works for major teams. Contributing just 7% of all published
Facebook content in 2014 that percentage has risen to 25% last year.
Inter/National Representative Teams (155)

21. CRICKET MOST ENGAGING
National Sporting Organisations (79)
Inter/National Representative Teams (155)
#1 #2 #3
#1 #2 #3
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Cricket was the 2018 posting powerhouse of Australian national sports organisations, consistently generating the top Facebook posts for engagement (Total reactions,
comments, shares). Of the Top 50 most engaging posts measured, 48 were from cricket and two came from the NRL.
Cricket.com.au
July 8, 2018
MS Dhoni
Reactions,
comments &
shares:
431,457
Cricket.com.au
May 25, 2018
Jonty Rhodes
Reactions,
comments &
shares:
185,348
Cricket.com.au
June 22, 2018
Sourav
Ganguly
Reactions,
comments &
shares:
176,985
Australian
Men’s Cricket
Team
March 8, 2018
Steve Smith
Reactions,
comments &
shares:
151,237
Sydney Sixers
January 3, 2018
INSANE!
Reactions,
comments &
shares:
91,710
Brisbane Heat
April 7, 2018
Bash vs Bash
Reactions,
comments &
shares:
91,473

22. WHO SAYS DATA IS BORING?
Just a few of the storylines that have evolved in the last 12-months with
important learnings for anyone working in sport’s social media.
‘TAIL’ OF TWO PREMIERSHIPS
ZOMBIE EVENT
AO = ALWAYS ON
As social media audience and engagement growth runs out of steam across significant
parts of the industry where will the key growth drivers be through 2019 and beyond?
WHO’S DRIVING THE BUS?
GRASSROOTS ENGAGEMENT
OPL ESPORTS SNAPSHOT
2019 WHAT’S HOT
COMPELLING STORYLINES

23. Audiences and influence is
shifting away from sports
rights holders to athletes.
WHO’S
DRIVING
THE BUS?
There are currently 34 Australian athletes
and rights holders with a social media
footprint in excess of 1 million (Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram & LinkedIn) - 19 of them
are athletes.
• 56% (19) Athletes
• 9% (3) Women
• 3% (1) Event - Australian Open
• 20% (8) Teams
• 18% (6) Sports / Leagues
Updated January 2019
THOUGHT-STARTERS
As the audience pulling power of elite
athletes continues to grow at a rapid pace
there are two likely outcomes;
(1) The relationship between athlete and
rights-holder will become increasingly
adversarial as they battle it out for
audiences, rights and associated revenues.
(2) Both parties realize that by working
together they can grow the sport and
associated revenues. While one may not
get a larger slice of the pie than the other,
a bigger pie will benefit all.

24. GRASSROOTS ENGAGEMENT
VFL Metro
VFL Country
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Despite Facebook’s recent negative press and anaemic growth highlighted in this report particularly with larger rights-holders, operating in more mature markets it’s still the
glue that binds small AFL club communities across metro and country Victoria as can be seen here. Only three AFL teams had engagement levels during the September 2018
final series that would be included in the top 30 Metro VFL clubs monitored and just one would be included in the top 30 Country VFL clubs. Suggesting a highly engaged,
localised audience in both markets. The challenge here is empowering grassroots clubland to unlock the revenue generating potential of this compelling data.

25. OPL ESPORTS SNAPSHOT
THOUGHT-STARTERS
One to watch is the emergence of e-sports with a snapshot of the League of Legends OPL (Oceanic Pro League) social media profile illustrated here. Note the OPL’s
mid-table audience ranking against other leagues, the very different platform audience share with Twitch and You Tube controlling almost 90% between them and the
presence of two AFL club franchises - Legacy Esports (Adelaide Crows) and Bombers (Essendon Bombers). Updated January 2019

26. ‘TAIL’ OF TWO PREMIERSHIPS
2017 AFL Premiers: Richmond Tigers “Big Bang”
2018 AFL Premiers: West Coast Eagles “Slow Burn”
THOUGHT-STARTERS
In this ‘tail’ of two premierships we can see that when Richmond broke their grand final drought there was a surge in audiences following their social media platforms during
September before growth quickly returned to business as usual. In contrast, the Eagles didn’t achieve the same September levels of growth but were able to maintain a ‘fatter
long-tail’ of new followers over several months after their premiership. Who managed success better?

27. ZOMBIE EVENT
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Major international standalone sporting events don’t come along too often in Australia which makes the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Facebook page an interesting
account to analyse. Here we see just how early the process of publishing content, engaging and building audiences gets underway. It also highlights a classic out of sight,
out of mind scenario and how the Facebook feed works post-event. If you’re not posting, you’re not appearing in a fans feed and they simply forget to unfollow you. On its
current trajectory this Facebook account will retain an audience of over a half a million for a few more years (currently losing 2-3,000 fans per month).

28. AO = ALWAYS ON!
THOUGHT-STARTERS
The Australian Open runs for 2-weeks in January but the event actively engages audiences on Facebook year-round. Minimum monthly 2017 non-event posts (May) was 26,
maximum 133 (Dec) with an average of 60. In 2018, the non-event minimum was (Apr) 58, maximum 122 (Jun) with an average of 89. This graph reinforces how essential it is to
maintain a level of content and engagement buzz even when ‘nothing’ is happening so as to avoid cold-starting audiences in the build-up to a periodic event.
2017 Final
Men: Federer / Nadal
Women: S. Williams / V. Williams
2018 Final
Men: Federer / Cilic
Women: Halep / Wozniacki
2019 Final
Men: Djokovic / Nadal
Women: Osaka / Kvitová

29. SOCIAL MEDIA OUTCOMES SOUGHT
HOWWILLYOUENSURETHENEXTGENERATIONOFAUSTRALIANSCANPARTICIPATE/FOLLOWYOURSPORT?
REVENUES
Increase Participation/Fans
Reduce Churn (Retention)
Articulate & monetise the
brand value proposition
RESOURCES
What capacity do we have?
How can we use our scare
resources as efficiently &
effectively as possible?
KPI’s
Where have we come from?
How do we compare against
our peers?
Where are we going?
CORPORATE IP
Education
Professional Development
Unlocking the true potential
of our people & organisation
ENGAGEMENT
Inform & Engage
Voice, Tone & Narrative
What do we have a
conversation about & why?
CULTURAL CHANGE
Systems & Processes
Evidence-based philosophy
Customer-centric
Revenue driven
While every sport’s social media journey is different the outcomes sought are similar. Benchmarking, assigning KPI’s, professional development, audience engagement and
cultural change all underpin Shunt’s two “R’s” >>>>> Increasing Revenues and utilising scarce Resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.

30. SHUNT ADVISORY SUPPORT
> Critical Analysis >
Sports, Teams, Athletes & Rank
> Advisory Support >
Annual/Seasonal
> Environmental Scans >
Rights-Holders
> Accelerator Programs >
Right-Holders
Shunt is an authority and thought leader in
social media analytics for the Australian sports
industry publishing 100+ blog posts on a range
of topics each year. This is supported by the
500-page 2018 STAR Report and the 2019 STAR
Report whitepaper (May).
Checkout our website for more information.
An Australian first, open-source shared-
services Social Media Accelerator Program was
launched by Shunt early 2019. Participating
sports from four states and territories include
some of the largest in the country such as rugby
league, football, netball, hockey and surfing.
Ask how you can join the Program or set up an
Accelerator within your sport.
Shunt provides comprehensive monthly
dashboards to various national and regional
leagues that can encompass datasets across
ALL digital communications activities inclusive
of web, EDM’s, social media, video and apps.
Adopt a holistic approach to the management
of your digital communications data insights.
Our expansive digital communications scans
review upto 10 years of data enabling sports
administrators to measure digital media
channels and content performance against
peers, key influencers and stakeholders.
Utilised for benchmarking purposing,
determining KPI’s and as a precursor to
strategy development.
> Asset Appraisals >
Rights-Holders
> Grassroots Accelerators >
Clubland
Apply our evidence-based philosophy to your
grassroots clubs by providing them with their
own Accelerator ‘Lite’ program.
Empower clubs to realize their full potential
in driving participant acquisition and
retention through social media channels while
articulating their value proposition to local
sponsors.
Providing a comparative analysis and proxy
valuation of your social media performance
against the market has historically been based
on assumptions and guesswork - until now.
Access Shunt’s longitudinal research of
industry wide rights-holders to better
articulate your value-proposition and ROI
potential to partners.
Shunt offers a complementary range of data advisory services to enable
your sport to achieve its REVENUE and RESOURCE management goals.

31. Stu Williams
MD@Shunt
E: stuart@shunt.com.au
W: www.shunt.com.au
APPLIED ADVISORY
The team at Shunt have made this
document freely available to the
Australian sport’s industry in an
effort to further the cause for a more
evidence-based approach to digital
communications decision-making.
We hope you’ve found it interesting
and informative while providing
plenty of food for thought as to how
you approach social media in 2019
and beyond.
Feel free to share with colleagues and
stakeholders but please respect the
time and energy we’ve put into this
resource by not copying, repurposing
or reassigning in any way, in whole or
in part, without prior permission from
Shunt.
REPRODUCTION
DISCLAIMER
Every effort has been made to ensure
that the accounts monitored in this
report belong to and/or are the
official pages of a given rights holder
or athlete. If in doubt, the default
position of Shunt has been to omit an
account from the monitoring process
until it can be verified.
If Shunt has omitted or incorrectly
identified an account included in this
report please contact us so that we
can update our records.
Shunt makes no representation nor
provides any warranties regarding
the accuracy or completeness of the
information contained in this report.
Shunt, its personnel and partners
expressly disclaim any and all
liabilities for errors or omissions.
©2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED