Cristiano Ronaldo generated 500 million in value for Nike in 2016

A few months ago, the rumor that Cristiano Ronaldo - just like LeBron James - would’ve signed a $1B deal with Nike made some uproar. An astonishing amount of money, which raised many arguments about overpaid football players and the massive sums of money in football.

Today, however, Hypebeast tells us how Nike’s deal with the Portuguese have been everything but random, and how it all comes to social networks. Yes, because HB revealed how in 2016 Cristiano Ronaldo generated almost $500m worth for Nike. And Hookit, a digital platform that supports and connects athletes and brands, calculated how he did it. First of all, Hootkit confirmed that Cristiano is the most followed and most influential athlete in the world, with

First of all, Hootkit confirmed that Cristiano is the most followed and most influential athlete in the world, with 260 million followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. In 2016, the Portuguese posted 1703 times on social networks, generating 2,25 billion social interactions, between like, comments, shares, retweets and views on videos. Nike was mentioned - or its logo visible - in 347 of those posts, generating 477 million interactions. Result: according to market analysis by Hookit, Cristiano Ronaldo’s posts generated $499,6m worth in media value for Nike.

Seen in this perspective, the $1 billion deal offered by Nike to Cristiano for his lifetime sign, seems everything but crazy. With 2016’s incomes, and as a single post by the Portuguese could worth almost $6m itself, Beaverton company seems to has made the deal of a lifetime.