Paddy Power tops social media rankings

This month, leading tipster site bettingexpert.com puts bookmakers’ social media presence under the microscope

Not only has the rise of social media provided bookmakers with a new means of promoting themselves and engaging its customers, it has given them access to a huge pool of potential new punters.

Consider these numbers. Nearing the end of 2017, Facebook saw around 2.2 billion active users while in the same period Twitter boasted 330 million active monthly users.

Bookmakers have been quick to adapt to this brave new world, and it’s no wonder many of the world’s largest international operators have invested great resources in promoting their brand via the most popular social media platforms.

In this article we will assess the social media platforms of 26 of the world’s most popular bookmakers:

10bet
888sport
Bet365
Bet At Home
BetBright
Betfair
Betfred
Betsafe
Betway
BetVictor
Boylesports
ComeOn
Coral
Energy Bet
Genting Bet
Ladbrokes
LeoVegas
Marathonbet
Matchbook
NetBet
Paddy Power
Sky Bet
Sportingbet
Stan James
Unibet
William Hill
Winner Sports

The social media platforms we will take into consideration are:

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram

The categories we will take into account are:

Number of Facebook followers
Number of Twitter followers
Number of Instagram followers
Number of Tweets
Number of YouTube video views
Number of YouTube videos
Most watched YouTube video

Our data was collected between 21 February and 9 March 2018.

And the winner is….
After analysing our data, we concluded that the top bookmaker for social media is Paddy Power, with bet365 coming in a close second place and Betfair not far behind in third.

That Paddy Power claimed the top prize will come as little surprise to anyone in the industry. The bookmaker’s unique, irreverent and occasionally risque approach manages to both inform and entertain its more than 1.5 million Facebook and 600,000 Twitter followers  worldwide, not to mention near 18 million YouTube video views.

Its social media self promotion includes a blend of match previews, odds updates, promotional offers as well as their widely shared cheeky memes and gifs.

Paddy Power also operates a dedicated Twitter account for promoting their current and standing betting offers, @PPOffers, a dedicated racing account, @pphorseracing, and a dedicated help and customer service account, @ask_paddypower.

Bet365, arguably the biggest brand in online betting, came in just behind Paddy Power in our rankings, with over 1.5 million Facebook and nearly 400,000 Twitter followers and just short of nine million YouTube video views.

Bet365 is increasingly leveraging their social media platforms, providing a mix of event odds and odds updates as events are in-play, also offering several territory-specific Twitter accounts such as @Bet365_aus, @Bet365_es and @Bet365_it.

Betfair came in a close third behind Bet365 in our bookmaker social media rankings, with just shy of 650,000 Facebook followers, over 150,000 Twitter followers and an impressive 22 million YouTube video views.

Betfair’s social channels provide a blend of event previews and odds updates, and include a dedicated horse racing Twitter account, @BetfairRacing, which boasts almost 54,000 followers and @BetfairExchange account with over 110,000.

Facebook followers
Breaking down the analysis by channel, on Facebook it’s a tight battle between Paddy Power and bet365, with bet365 currently holding a narrow lead with 1,553,663 followers, just ahead of Paddy Power with 1,551,324. Unibet with 811,939 is a distant third.

Top 5
1. Bet365 1,553,663
2. Paddy Power 1,551,324
3. Unibet 811,939
4. Betfair 649,176
5. William Hill 557,602

Twitter followers
There was however little contest when it came to Twitter, with Paddy Power registering a soaring 644,207 followers.

Of the 26 bookmakers in our study, Paddy Power had the oldest Twitter account, creating its account back nearly ten years ago in April 2008.

Bet365 came next with 378,226 followers, its account having been created back in December of 2010, and Skybet third with 351,959 followers, having registered their account in November 2008.

Top 5
1. Paddy Power 644,207
2. Bet365 378,226
3. Skybet 351,939
4. Coral 347,824
5. William Hill 199,050

YouTube followers
Nordic brand Betsafe led the way when it came to the YouTube video view account, attracting a total of over 29 million video views since their account was created back in August of 2009.

However with 1,031 videos listed, its average view count per video has been just over 28,000.

Betfair fell into second place with a total of just over 22 million YouTube video views. With a total of 816 videos posted, their average count per video has been just over 27,000 since creating its YouTube account back in August of 2006.

In third place we find Paddy Power boasting a total YouTube video count of near 18 million views. With a total of 278 videos posted, Paddy Power yielded a healthy average of 64,000 views per video since creating its account back in August of 2008.

Top 5
1. Betsafe 29,131,133
2. Betfair 22,192,528
3. Paddy Power 17,918,313
4. 888sport 13,168,591
5. Betfred 10,948,124

Most popular YouTube video
We also ranked each bookmaker in terms of their most watched video.

The prize for the most watched YouTube video goes to Betfair, with its “Liverpool FC – A Free Kick Masterclass” video that has so far been viewed almost five million times.

In second place with over three million views came the Betsafe “Street F1 with Team Betsafe” video.

Third place goes to 888sport who have clocked up over 2.7 million views for its 888sport Treble The Odds promotion back in September of 2015.

Fourth goes to Betfred which has attracted over 2.5 million views for its Bet £10 Get £30 Free promotion published in December of 2015.

In fifth we have Bet365 whose generic promotional video of January 2014 has so far seen over 1.6 million views.

Instagram
Finally, Paddy Power takes the plaudits on Instagram with near on 100,000 followers, ahead of Betsafe with just over 61,000, and Unibet some distance behind on a mark of almost 23,000.

Conclusion
While many bookmakers including Paddy Power, Bet365 and Betfair continue to lead the way in terms of social media engagement, a surprising number of bookmakers in our analysis have yet to truly adopt a marketing strategy that makes the most of social media’s enhanced accessibility for both bookmakers and customers alike.

In such a competitive environment, a focus and appreciation for social media platforms for many bookmakers could well mean the difference between surviving and thriving.   

About bettingexpert.com
Providing expert tips and in depth betting theory, bettingexpert.com is the world’s biggest social network of sports betting tipsters. Its global community of experts compete for prizes by sharing their strongest tips on upcoming matches across 25 different sports to help millions of sports bettors place knowledge supported bets, with the best odds available from a variety of bookmakers. Bettingexpert.com is owned by Better Collective, the leading developer of educational platforms within the iGaming industry.