Social Media Analytics Reveals Much About NFL Mexico Fans

Published on November 21, 2016 by Darin White

The NFL is headed south of the border for its Monday night game. According to CNN, "Over the last decade, the Hispanic audience for football has boomed. NFL viewership among Hispanics has increased 28% in the past five years alone" and the "NFL estimates it has about 22 million fans in Mexico, and Mexico City has the seventh largest fan base of any city in North America. (The six other cities are all in the U.S.)."

Samford University's partnership with Affinio, a social media listening company based in Canada, allowed us to run a detailed study on the over 20 million followers of the NFL on Twitter. Our analysis revealed approximately 564,000 people in Mexico that consume NFL content on a regular basis on Twitter. In addition, we found that almost 70% of these people are male and the vast majority (56.8%) are between the ages 25 to 34. The following graphics demonstrate many additional findings about people who live in Mexico that consume NFL content on a regular basis on Twitter.

Where do they live?

Chart of fan locations in Mexico

Map of fan locations in Mexico

What are their favorite sports teams?

Favorite sports teams

Note: Only 4 NFL teams made the list of top sports teams followed by people in this region -- New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Pittsburg Steelers.

What other leagues do these fans follow?

Favorite leagues

Note: It is interesting that the NBA is the second most popular league for this audience rather than the Mexican professional soccer league. It's also interesting to note that the MLB is well down the list.

Do these fans prefer NFL social content in their own language?

Note: The NFL supports two official Spanish language NFL Twitter accounts. Both of these accounts are highly popular with this audience as can be seen above.