Last week, Manchester United nearly broke the internet by announcing that it has reached an agreement with Juventus for the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo. The news spread like wildfire and before you knew it, records were shattered across social media platforms.
On the day of the announcement, July 27, the highest number of conversations surrounding Manchester United was recorded on Twitter (2.9m tweets), according to The Telegraph journalist James Ducker. Previously, the record had been set when Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford with Real Madrid in 2013 (1.6m tweets).
Furthermore, according to ESPN, Manchester United’s announcement on Instagram, currently on 12.9m likes, is the most liked post by any sports team ever, across all sports.
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Manchester United’s announcement on Twitter, currently on 2m likes, is the most liked tweet by a sporting organization ever. In comparison, Paris Saint-Germain’s announcement of Lionel Messi on Twitter is yet to reach one million likes, despite the Argentine joining the French club nearly three weeks earlier.
Manchester United are clearly a far bigger brand than Paris Saint-Germain but the sheer volume of interactions surrounding Ronaldo confirms his status as the most marketable athlete in the world.
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