The Maple Leafs ranked as the most viewed NHL team isn't surprising, but given where they are among other professional clubs, it's clear the NHL is falling behind.
The Maple Leafs ranked as the most viewed NHL team isn't surprising, but given where they are among other professional clubs, it's clear the NHL is falling behind.
TikTok has experienced an immense surge in popularity, captivating a vast user base with its addictive short-form videos. The Toronto Maple Leafs are like many teams that have jumped on the craze, adding it to their social media strategy.
In 2021, the club took it further by inking a deal with TikTok to become the team’s first (and current) helmet ad sponsor.
So it's not a surprise to see that according to a recent study by OLBG.com that scraped data from the TikTok Creative Center saw the Leafs generate the most views on the platform of any NHL team over a 12-month span.
The views taken from TikTok's Creative Center were calculated by putting in a team name and then adding up the views via a collection of the 20 most popular hashtags associated with their respective club. The sum of all the views was then put together for a total.
And while the Maple Leafs ranking at the top of the NHL isn't a surprise, what really stands out is how far behind the best NHL club is compared to other sports franchises in the 'Big Four' sports (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL).
In ranking the big four, eight of the top 10 teams belonged to the NFL, and that should surprise nobody when you look at how much money they have been pulling for their broadcast rights.
The team with the most views over a 12-month span from May 2022 to May 2023 was the L.A. Lakers with 5.406 billion.
Among the 124 teams in the 'Big Four' sports, the Maple Leafs rank in the middle at 62nd. That's relatively low when you put it into perspective.
The simple conclusion is that the NHL is quickly falling behind when it comes to grabbing TikTok's audience, which skews younger. As far as what can be done to help the NHL boost its numbers, that's up to its marketing team.
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