Member Article

Jamie Vardy and Sam Warburton are the most influential figures in UK sport

A study unveiled today has revealed the top twenty most influential Brits when it comes to encouraging people to attend, play, watch or engage with sport in the UK. Joint top of the list are Leicester City footballer Jamie Vardy and Welsh Rugby Union star Sam Warburton.

The top 20, created by creative communications agency Exposure, is an eclectic mix of sportspeople, presenters, organisation heads and social media influencers. As well as current players like Harry Kane (No. 14) and Andy Murray (No.16), the list includes former players and TV commentators like Gary Lineker (No.10) and Dame Jessica Ennis (No.17), and the heads of major sporting bodies like the FA and RFU.

Other major influencers are YouTube channel Copa90 (No.11), fitness coach and author Joe Wicks (No.12) and social media personality Spencer FC (No.13). Only half the top 20 is composed of sportspeople active in their field, showing the surprising diversity of people that are able to effectively influence how the British public engage with sport in this country.

The research identifies a major change in influence in UK sport, with many established names falling behind newer arrivals. It employed a unique analysis tool to identify the 250 biggest names in UK sport, examining each person’s online influence through social media platforms like Twitter, offline influence such as their ability to affect laws, and personal ‘brand value’ (based upon their current level of public interest, recent scandals and any charity initiatives that they are involved in).

The Top 20 most influential figures in UK sport:

1 = Sam Warburton 1 = Jamie Vardy 3 Adam Peaty 4 Owen Farrell 5 Gareth Thomas 6 Tom Daley 7 Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill 8 Marcus Rashford 9 Dame Katherine Grainger 10 Gary Lineker 11 Copa90 12 Joe Wicks 13 Spencer FC 14 Harry Kane 15 Ian Ritchie 16 Andy Murray 17 Gareth Bale 18 Baroness Grey-Thompson 19 Justin Ros 20 Martin Glenn

The research demonstrates how influencers come from a wide range of sports, including rugby, swimming and golf, and not just the usual suspects like football.

Andy Jephson, head of sport & culture at Exposure, comments: “There are people from the world of sport that wield an extraordinary level of influence and they aren’t necessarily the big names that sponsors automatically seek out.

The likes of England captain Harry Kane (No.14), Andy Murray (No.16) and Gareth Bale (No.17) all fall towards the lower end of the top 20, while some of the huge stars that have massive sponsorships like Mo Farah (No.68) and newly crowned four times F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton (No.23) don’t even make the top 20.

“It’s clear that many of the ‘traditional’ big names of UK sport have been surpassed by the likes of Jamie Vardy with his rags to riches story, and new stars of the future like 19-year-old Marcus Rashford and picture story specialists Tom Daley and Adam Peaty.

“In fact, it’s evident that the traditional parameters of influence are no longer relevant. If brands really want to effectively leverage an association to sport in the UK they need to pay close attention to who the real influencers are and the voices that fans really want to hear from.”

Methodology:

Exposure used its unique scoring system to find the UK’s most influential figures in sports, focusing on those who can influence people to participate/engage with sports – whether that be through attending games, watching games at home or in the pub, buying merchandise, following their every move online, or participating in the sport itself.

The research factored in each person’s online influence, offline influence and their brand value (i.e. is there public interest in them, any recent scandals, are they ambassadors of a charity or perhaps have their own charity etc.). The extensive list analysed over 250 people involved in UK sports including athletes, presenters, journalists, social media influencers and publications.

More detail on the research: The research included more than 2,000 individual measurements split into three equally-weighted categories, including:

Online: Presence; frequency and quality of content; number of followers; engagement; and objectives of their social media channels.

Offline: Ability to affect the laws; number of people currently participating in their sport; increase or decrease in people participating in their sport; appearance in offline channels such as books and TV; and how often the sport is covered in mainstream media.

Brand Strength: Whether they are international, national or local champions in their sport; recent performance compared to expectations; public interest in them increasing or decreasing; involvement with charitable causes, be it face of a campaign or spokesperson for change in their own sport; recent involvement in any scandals, both personal and professional; and if they are considered inspirational or ground-breaking in their area.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alex Sampson .