Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
In bars and living rooms around the world, soccer and football fans debate one thing above all else, who is better: Lionel Messi or Christian Ronaldo. The rivalry has continued for the past decade, with both stars proving they share a place alongside football’s royalty. Both players are also the highest paid and endorsed athletes in the world, with Messi making 28 million and Ronaldo 35 million in endorsement deals last year alone. Though both superstars represent many brands across various industries, nothing is quite as lucrative as their main athletic apparel sponsorships.
Messi, backed by Adidas, signed a new contract in 2017, guaranteeing himself 10 million dollars per year for the remainder of his life. Ronaldo signed a deal for a whopping 1 billion over his lifetime to rival brand Nike. Both these contracts are the highest in sporting history and these brands are investing billions towards their particular brand ambassador. According to stats found on Betting sites, we reviewed these brands campaign facts. We attempted to answer, who is the better investment and which major deal is performing best?
ROI for Brands
When it comes to return on investment, it’s important for both these companies to ensure their large value investment and sponsorships are worth their costs. According to the stats, Messi reportedly produced Adidas a value of 53.5 million from his Adidas campaigns. That incredible achievement was only dwarfed by the fact that Ronaldo created Nike a 500-million-dollar value. Further tipping the balance in favor of Ronaldo is the fact that his average interaction rate per post for Nike received 1.3 million interactions compared to only 300,000 for Messi.
Social Media Reach
When it comes to social media reach, Ronaldo again is ahead. Ronaldo is one of the highest followed people on the planet and has more followers than Kobe, Lebron and Curry combined. That’s more than the top 3 NBA basketball players collectively. Further, Ronaldo has more followers on social media than 99% of the NFL combined, making him as powerful a social media influencer as whole leagues in other pro-sports. Ronaldo has over 280 million social media fans and Messi follows with 160 million plus fans. Though both have incredible amounts of followers, Christian Ronaldo takes this round.
Total Media Value
Arguably the most important factor to take into consideration, when trying to figure out who is the better investment, is total media value. According to the stats, Messi created 56 million for his brand through media value in 2016. Ronaldo, on the other hand, made that look like child’s play, creating 935.7 million in total media value for his brand during the same period.
Though the rivalry has yet to establish who is the better football player between the two, the debate for who is the better investment for the Messi and Ronaldo brands is clear. Ronaldo, with a hat trick in ROI, Social Reach and Media value dwarfs the already incredible numbers of Messi. Though both these superstars are great investments for their respective brands, Ronaldo blows the competition away by clearly demonstrating he is the best value for money in the greatest rivalry in professional sports.
