Tokyo 2020 Olympics Analysis

Evaluating U.S. Medalists' Social Growth

Brands
Events
Broadcast
Social

Tracking our Olympians

Beyond a few familiar faces in Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, and Allyson Felix, the roster of athletes representing the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) at the Tokyo Games was relatively unknown. Throughout the competition, however, many athletes experienced significant growth in social presence — and subsequently sponsorship potential — as a result of their success on the international stage.

We began tracking U.S. Olympians’ social media performance and follower counts across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram seven days prior to the Games and continued until a week after the Olympic flame was extinguished. Athletes were classified by their best medal finish over the course of this year’s competition.

In order to isolate the growth effect of the Olympics, we excluded individual athletes competing as members of a team. Examples include men's basketball player Kevin Durant and women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe. Throughout the report, all individual medals will be attributed to athletes, whereas team medals will be attributed to national governing bodies.
Pre-Olympic Snapshot

Total follower counts one week prior to the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony demonstrate the relative popularity of all Olympic sports, as well as the quantity of eventual medalists each fielded. Simone Biles’ 6.96M followers comprised an audience 5.3x larger than the next-closest athlete (Allyson Felix) and 21.8x larger than the next-closest gymnast (MyKayla Skinner) entering the Games. The athletics program — headlined by Felix, Sydney McLaughlin, and Noah Lyles — produced more medalists (19) than any
other sport.

U.S. 2020 Olympic Medal Count

Total Medals Earned
113
39 Medals
Swimming
11
Athletics
7
Basketball
3
Shooting
3
Wrestling
3
Golf
2
Gymnastics
2
Volleyball
2
Canoe
1
Cycling
1
Fencing
1
Surfing
1
Taekwondo
1
Water Polo
1
41 Medals
Athletics
12
Swimming
10
Boxing
3
Diving
2
Equestrian
2
Gymnastics
2
Shooting
2
Wrestling
2
Baseball
1
Cycling
1
Softball
1
Climbing
1
Triathlon
1
Weightlifting
1
33 Medals
Swimming
9
Athletics
7
Wrestling
4
Gymnastics
2
Skateboarding
2
Boxing
1
Cycling
1
Diving
1
Fencing
1
Karate
1
Shooting
1
Soccer
1
Triathlon
1
Weightlifting
1
Percent Growth
Total Growth
Follower Growth by Medal Count

Of the 78 accounts observed, five were identified as outliers due to the size of their audiences (2M+). The growth timelines displayed here illustrate the justification for their exclusion. With entities such as Simone Biles and USA Basketball excluded, the impact of a Gold Medal performance is properly represented. The top step of the podium produces a 20% larger growth effect than either other medal. Silver Medal performances surprisingly yielded less growth than third-place finishes. However, after assessing the data further, this effect appears to be a result of the quantity of NGBs (6) that finished with a Silver Medal.  As you will see in the following section, NGB accounts drew exponentially less growth than athlete accounts.

*Dashed lines visualize follower growth for all medalists, including outliers (competitors who entered the Olympics with 2M+ total followers)

Follower Growth Per Medal

All Medalists
Athletes Only
NGBs Only
16%
Follower Growth
39%
Follower Growth
19%
Follower Growth

Greatest of All Time

Simone Biles’ dominant performances during prior Olympics and World Championships resulted in her entering this year’s competition with the third-largest following of any U.S. entity. Despite an uncharacteristic Bronze Medal finish, the legendary gymnast saw a 1.5x increase in followers over the course of the Games, drawing tremendous support instead for her mental health advocacy. She would return to the States with at least 20% more followers than the next-closest entities (USA Basketball, USOPC).

Best of the Rest

In terms of popularity, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team earns the next spot on the list, entering the Games with 4.57M followers as a result of its recent World Cup and overall international success. The team account’s follower growth faltered along with the team, with decreases in growth rate coinciding with losses or ties on July 21st, 24th, and 27th.

USA Gymnastics, meanwhile, experienced much stronger growth (+6.2%) over the course of the Olympics due to the team’s impressive performance sans Simone Biles. The unit rounds out the list of entities who left Tokyo with more than 2 million cumulative followers.

All-Around Champion

Navigating beyond the outliers, we begin to observe the impact that Olympic success can afford over just a two-and-a-half week period. Gymnast Sunisa Lee — who entered the Games with 234K total followers — saw her social media presence skyrocket as she raked in medals. She would return home with an audience of 1.7M, a 627% increase from when she left. In addition to Lee, seven other entities finished with more than 1M followers.

Group Mentality

As mentioned previously, team accounts experience vastly different degrees of growth than athlete accounts. Despite Gold Medal success, team entity audiences grew by merely 4% on average. USA Swimming captured viewers’ attention most effectively among the group observed here, earning a 6% increase in followers. That figure placed USA Swimming among the most interesting NGBs from a growth perspective. Other strong performers included USA Diving (+10%) and USA Shooting (+7%).

Stars Shine Brightly

In contrast to their teams, individual medalists experienced significant growth on social media throughout the Tokyo Olympics. In addition to Lee, hurdler Sydney McLaughlin (+53%) and swimmer Katie Ledecky (+26%) also amassed hundreds of thousands of new followers thanks to their successes at Olympic Stadium and the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Allyson Felix came away from the Games with the third-most followers among athletes but generated only minimal growth. Her recognizability from nearly two decades on the track scene was likely a contributing factor.

Suni’s Fast Track to Stardom

Whereas past success played a significant role in the audience sizes of most athletes observed above — including Biles, Felix, and Ledecky — focusing on the medalists who finished with fewer than 1M followers provides a clearer picture of the relative interest produced during this year’s Games. As you scroll through this section, keep an eye on Lee’s line to get a sense of her medals’ immediate impacts.

Overnight Celebrities

In addition to Lee, several other athletes experienced unique growth during the 2020 Olympics, including swimmer Caeleb Dressel (+128%), gymnast MyKayla Skinner (+84%), and skateboarder Jagger Eaton (+57%).

Objectively, Dressel was the United States’ most successful Olympian at this year’s Games, earning three individual Gold Medals. Along with that hardware came more than twice as many followers as he had upon arrival in Tokyo. Skinner capitalized on her opportunity to compete with a Silver Medal performance in vault, which helped catapult her past six of her peers in terms of audience size by the end of the competition. Meanwhile, Eaton’s Bronze Medal run during skateboarding’s Olympic debut led to 113K new followers — a 33% increase — in just 24 hours.

Rounding Out the Field

The remaining 69 medalists each finished with fewer than 500K followers. We have included those with at least 100K followers in our line chart for you to explore. On average, individual athletes drew a 32% increase in audience size through Tokyo 2020.

Post Value Generated

As athletes’ social audiences grow, their potential impact likewise increases. This is reflected in key post metrics such as impressions, engagements, and reach.

By means of MVP’s valuation methodology, these elements are weighted and modeled, producing a Social Value figure representing the total potential value of a post. Within the following section, we will reexamine the medalists’ growth during the Olympics through the lens of social value.
Followers by Sport
Value by Sport
Total Followers Gained
4,939,612

Taking a step back, we grouped player and team accounts by sport to observe when each primarily drew attention and the degree to which they did so, as illustrated by daily follower growth. As one may expect, gymnastics dominated this year’s Olympics narrative, particularly on July 29th, when Sunisa Lee claimed a Gold Medal in the women’s all-around competition. Athletics took precedence during the latter half of the Games, while swimming was relatively impactful throughout Tokyo 2020. Skateboarding, golf, and wrestling entities all experienced noteworthy growth as well.

Exclude Outliers
Include Outliers
Total Post Value Generated
$52,902,577

Sunisa Lee’s success during the Olympics helped her earn a 17% share of social value among entities with fewer than 2 million followers. The USA Swimming and USA Volleyball team accounts each contributed more than $2.5M in value, while USA Baseball and USA softball combined for $1.3M in their sports’ Olympic returns. Despite far fewer medalists, swimming entities collectively outperformed their athletics counterparts as a result of Caeleb Dressel and Katie Ledecky’s presences.

Closing Ceremonies

Having assessed the medalists’ performances — from the perspectives of both audience size and social value production — we created sortable breakdowns of their key metrics. The tables allow for toggling between data highlighting change over the course of the Olympics, total performance, and average performance. Additionally, we have showcased three of the Games’ biggest winners: Sunisa Lee, Caeleb Dressel, and Sydney McLaughlin.

Note: Throughout the report, all individual medals are attributed to athletes, whereas team medals are attributed to national governing bodies.
Caeleb Dressel
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
3
Sport
Swimming
Total Followers
128%
Facebook
-
Twitter
-
Instagram
128%
Post Count
400%
Avg. Social Value
91%
Avg. Impressions
72%
Avg. Engagements
31%
Sunisa Lee
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
2
Sport
Gymnastics
Total Followers
627%
Facebook
-
Twitter
959%
Instagram
604%
Post Count
-38%
Avg. Social Value
2027%
Avg. Impressions
337%
Avg. Engagements
340%
Sydney McLaughlin
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
1
Sport
Athletics
Total Followers
53%
Facebook
38%
Twitter
16%
Instagram
62%
Post Count
100%
Avg. Social Value
-24%
Avg. Impressions
-25%
Avg. Engagements
-35%
Caeleb Dressel
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
3
Sport
Swimming
Total Followers
128%
Facebook
-
Twitter
-
Instagram
128%
Post Count
400%
Avg. Social Value
91%
Avg. Impressions
72%
Avg. Engagements
31%
Sunisa Lee
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
2
Sport
Gymnastics
Total Followers
627%
Facebook
-
Twitter
959%
Instagram
604%
Post Count
-38%
Avg. Social Value
2027%
Avg. Impressions
337%
Avg. Engagements
340%
Sydney McLaughlin
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
1
Sport
Athletics
Total Followers
53%
Facebook
38%
Twitter
16%
Instagram
62%
Post Count
100%
Avg. Social Value
-24%
Avg. Impressions
-25%
Avg. Engagements
-35%
Caeleb Dressel
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
3
Sport
Swimming
Total Followers
128%
Facebook
-
Twitter
-
Instagram
128%
Post Count
400%
Avg. Social Value
91%
Avg. Impressions
72%
Avg. Engagements
31%
Sunisa Lee
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
2
Sport
Gymnastics
Total Followers
627%
Facebook
-
Twitter
959%
Instagram
604%
Post Count
-38%
Avg. Social Value
2027%
Avg. Impressions
337%
Avg. Engagements
340%
Sydney McLaughlin
Best Finish
Gold
Medal Count
1
Sport
Athletics
Total Followers
53%
Facebook
38%
Twitter
16%
Instagram
62%
Post Count
100%
Avg. Social Value
-24%
Avg. Impressions
-25%
Avg. Engagements
-35%
Change
Total
Average

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