Dani Alves with 50.9M followers tops the PMPR table of Social Media Influencers in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A

• Flamengo are the most influential club on social media followed by Corinthians and São Paulo FC

• The combined social media audience of the clubs and playing squads in the Serie A is more than 359M

To read the full social media analysis of each Brasileiro Serie A player click here

Click here to jump to Player Social Media Audiences

Click here to jump to Top 10 Players on Twitter

Click here to jump to Top 10 Players on Instagram

Click here to jump to Top 10 Players on Facebook

Click here to jump to Club Owned Social Media Audiences

Click here to jump to First Team Squad Social Media Audience

Click here to jump to Club and First Team Squad Combined Social Media Audiences

Dani Alves, São Paulo FC’s talisman, tops the PMPR table of social media influencers in the Brazilian Serie A. The former Barcelona, Juventus and PSG star (50.9M followers) is the clear leader ahead of Flamengo rival Gabriel Barbosa (12.9M) and his teammate Filipe Luis (6.8M).  

In overall fourth place is veteran Palmeiras midfielder Felipe Melo with 6.6M. He is closely followed by Flamengo’s Diego (6.1M) and Fluminense’s Ganso (5.9M). The only non-Brazilians in the Top 10 most followed players are Uruguay international Giorgian de Arrascaeta (4.1M) and Internacional’s Peruvian striker Paolo Guerrero (4.1M).

The top ten is completed by Flamengo duo goalkeeper Diego Alves (3.7M) and central midfielder Gerson (3.5M).

Flamengo lead the way on club-owned social media channels with 39M followers on their official Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok accounts. In second, third and fourth places are São Paulo giants Corinthians with 25.4M followers, São Paulo FC with 15.9M followers and Palmeiras with 13.3M followers respectively. Pelé’s former club Santos FC is the fifth most followed club with 9.3M followers, closely followed by Porto Alegre side Grêmio (8.9M).

­The research and analysis was conducted by the public relations, digital and football agency PMPR Excellence to analyse social media influence within the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A. The research logged the followers of Brasileiro players on their official Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts and clubs across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok.

PMPR’s research also analysed the combined social media reach for Brazilian Serie A club playing squads. By measuring the audiences on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for each player in the first team squad, PMPR created a Playing Squad Social Media League Table (see below).  In first place is the São Paulo FC playing squad with a combined reach of 60.6M across the players’ official accounts, mainly thanks to the 50.9M following of Dani Alves. The Flamengo squad are second with a combined audience of 57.7M followers, while Palmeiras are a distant third with 17.7M. Atlético Mineiro take fourth place with 13.1M followers just ahead of the Corinthians squad on 12.1M.

The smallest audience for the playing squad is Esporte Clube Juventude, whose combined audience is at 26K, more than 2,300 times smaller than São Paulo FC.

The combined audience of the clubs and player squads of the Brazilian Serie A is more than 359M followers, equivalent to more than the population of Brazil or the USA. This was uncovered in research by the public relations, digital and football agency PMPR Excellence. The research measured the social media audiences of individual players in the first team squads (207M) along with the clubs’ official social media channels (152M) to tally a total audience of 359M followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok.

The Editor of the PMPR Football Social Influencer Tables Barry Thomson said: “We are delighted to publish a comprehensive overview of the social media influence within the Brazilian Serie A. The social media king of the Brasileiro is global superstar Dani Alves (50.9M) followed by Flamengo stars Gabigol (12.9M) and Filipe Luis (6.8M)”

“The huge interest and passion for Brazilian football is demonstrated by the clubs and players attracting more than 359M followers across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok which is remarkable when you consider that the figure is more than the total population of Brazil or the USA.”

Peter McLean, Publisher PMPR Social Media Influencer Tables and PMPR Excellence Owner-Director commented: “The Dani Alves factor at Sao Paulo totally changes the landscape of social influence in Brazil. As well as his considerable football achievements, he is also one of the most powerful media communications channels in Brazil.

“The report shows that many individual players such as Dani Alves and Gabriel Barbosa (Gabigol) are media enterprises in their own right. The power of squads compared to clubs is also interesting. These media and influence values are significant when a player or squad is negotiating a contract or bonus schedule. A theatre doesn’t open its doors without the actors and they rightfully command a sizeable fee.

“These figures show the communications, entertainment commercial reach of Brazilian football and the opportunity football offers as a commercial window to the country of Brazil for television partners, sponsors and advertisers”.

The most followed player in the Brazilian Serie A is São Paulo FC’s Dani Alves, who has built up a massive following (50.9m) during a highly decorated career at iconic clubs including Barcelona, Juventus and PSG (3 of the biggest television markets in Europe: Spain pop. 46.7M; Italy pop. 59.3M; France pop. 65.3M) and his prominence in the European Champions League. He, of course, has also been a key figure at international level for Brazil for many years. Dani Alves is the most followed, Brazil-based, player on all three platforms – Twitter (9.1M), Instagram (31.7M) and Facebook (10.1M).

Flamengo’s star striker Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa is the second most followed player (12.9M) but notably has a following a quarter of the size of Dani Alves. His following is primarily on Instagram (7.9M) while Twitter and Facebook account for 2.8M and 2.2M of his audience respectively.

The highest ranked non-Brazilian player in the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A is Flamengo’s creatively talented Uruguayan Giorgian de Arrascaeta with more than 4.1M followers.

The Top 10 Players in the Brazilian Serie A are shown in the table below. To see the full list please click here.

Graphic of the First Eleven PMPR football social media influencers in the Brasileiro Serie A

Dani Alves is the King of Twitter with 9.1M follwers, three-times that of second place Gabriel Barbosa (2.8M). Palmeiras midfielder Felipe Melo is third with 1.9M followers.

Dani Alves commands a massive following on Instagram, over 31.6M. Flamengo striker Gabigol takes second place with an impressive 7.9M while his teammate Filipe Luis counts on over 5.1M followers.

On Facebook, Dani Alves is, once again, the most followed player with 10M followers. Fluminense’s Ganso takes second place with 3.1M. He pushes Gabigol into third place with 2.2M followers. All of the top ten players on Facebook are Brazilian.

Club-owned social media channels are key platforms for clubs to communicate with their stakeholders including fans, sponsors and the media.

Flamengo is the undoubted champion of club social media across the five channels analysed in the PMPR Football Social Influencer Tables research; Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. In total Flamengo have an audience of over 39M on social media, significantly more than second place Corinthians (25.4M) and third place São Paulo FC (15.9M). Indeed, Flamengo’s reach is almost as large as Corinthians and Sao Paulo combined (39M v 41.3M).  The bottom five clubs, Red Bull Bragantino (817K), Esporte Clube Juventude (346K), América FC (MG) (321K), Atlético Clube Goianiense (301K) and Cuiabá Esporte Clube (MT) (271K) all have fewer than 1 million followers across all their platforms.

In addition to measuring the reach of the clubs and the players as individuals, PMPR’s research analyses the collective reach of each clubs’ playing squad. By this measurement, São Paulo FC (60.6M) have the most influential playing squad on social media with a combined social media reach, closely followed by Flamengo with 57.7M. In a distant third place, are Palmeiras with a squad total audience of 17.7M.    

By combining the reach of the club-owned social media channels (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok) with the reach of all of the club’s playing squad (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) a total social media reach can be determined for each club.

The combined club and squad figures place Flamengo at the top of the table with a combined audience of 96.8M followers. São Paulo FC is in second position with 76.6M with city rivals Corinthians in third with 37.7M, ahead of Palmeiras with 31M.

Disclaimer. PMPR has sought to make every reasonable effort to ensure that the data and analysis is correct at time of publication. All data was collected April 2021 and provides a snapshot at that time. Please send any corrections or updates to digital@prexcellence.com.  It should be noted that people can of course follow multiple players and clubs across multiple channels, so this analysis measures total audience rather than unique followers. Some players do not have any social media accounts or have chosen not to have publicly visible profiles. Naturally reach is only one metric of influence, engagement is an also important measurement tool.

***The Football Social Influencer Tables concept remain the exclusive property of PMPR Excellence Ltd. If publishing extracts please credit the PMPR Football Social Influencer Tables and mention our website www.prexcellence.com/brasileiro-eng ***

Peter McLean Owner, Chairman-Director of PMPR comments: ‘I would like to record my thanks to my associates Barry Thomson, Gordon Sheach, Osterne Feitosa and Rafael Bullara for their excellent work on this initiative. It is very much appreciated.”