The Yachtsponsorship.com Facebook league table of yacht racing and sporting sailing brands has been updated and the Volvo Ocean Race continues to dominate the top of the table with 43,332 Fans/likes. However the fastest growing property that we monitor is Oman Sail which grew by 40.9% to 9,127 fans during June.
Social media can be a powerful tool to engage fans and help deliver sponsors increased value, however maintaining a fanbase requires constant updates of content. Maintaining a fanbase during dips in the news cycle is one of the biggest challenges to properties who have long gaps between activity. The Barcelona World Race Game, which is now over, lost 20% of it’s Facebook following in June, but the surprise perhaps is that it wasn’t more. Once fans opt-in, you have to do something pretty awful for them to then ‘unlike’ you.
The Official America’s Cup page continues to grow, but with just 35 days until the start of the first America’s Cup World Series event in Cascais, 9,315 fans is not going to impress many TV execs. The Top 10 brands in terms of monthly growth are…
| Pos | Brand | Fans / Likes | Last Pos | Change | Growth |
| 13 | Oman Sail | 9,127 | 16 | 3 | 40.89% |
| 12 | America’s Cup (Official) | 9,315 | 14 | 2 | 22.79% |
| 34 | Emirates Team NZ | 2,578 | 37 | 3 | 19.19% |
| 31 | Audi Med Cup | 2,926 | 33 | 2 | 18.32% |
| 16 | Extreme Sailing Series | 7,347 | 15 | -1 | 12.63% |
| 30 | World Match Racing Tour | 2,966 | 31 | 1 | 9.85% |
| 38 | Loick Peyron | 2,196 | 39 | 1 | 8.77% |
| 35 | Ben Ainslie | 2,519 | 35 | 0 | 8.67% |
| 37 | Artemis Racing | 2,409 | 36 | -1 | 8.22% |
| 40 | Royal Ocean Racing Club | 1,954 | 41 | 1 | 6.49% |
We’ve started to monitor some of the teams that will take part in the next Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing currently have 458 fans, while Team Sanya have opened their account with 283*.
And just as a little reminder for some perspective. Last week, Puma Ocean Racing announced a deal with all round waterman Laird Hamilton. Laird is by no means a household name, but within the worlds of big wave surfing and stand-up paddle boarding, he has 41, 824 fans on Facebook. Some use the fact that sailing is a niche sport to justify the low numbers, but plenty of other niche sports do a much better job.
See the Top 30 Sailing Brands on Facebook here.
*Yes – we know that there are issues around using Facebook numbers in association with China, but there is a large Chinese diaspora outside of the country who do have access to Facebook!
