Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese soccer star
Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese soccer star and a household name all over the world earned a staggering $47.8 million in 2019. With fabulous earnings being common to top of the line sportspersons, nobody would have blinked at this figure had it not been for the fact that it was more than what CR7 got paid to play for his team, Juventus.
According to a Hopper study, the Portugal national captain earned a whopping $975,000 per sponsored post overshadowing even celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez, not to speak of Lionel Messi, his main competitor for the title of the world’s best football player. Ronaldo, as it turns out made more than double than Messi who earned a relatively paltry $23.3 million. According to the study, Ronaldo earned $14.7 million more from Instagram endorsements than the $34 million he received from Juventus.
Nicola Cronin of Hopper HQ commented that brands are not shying away from paying Ronaldo close to $1million per post simply because, with 187 million followers, he is one of the most followed persons on Instagram. Cronin said that Ronaldo’s earnings from Instagram do not follow the usual influencer partnership patterns due to his huge celebrity status and also because many of his promotional posts are a part of larger sponsorship deals, of which Nike’s lifetime deal worth $1 billion is a prime example. Currently, Ronaldo has a number of very lucrative partnerships with brands like Herbalife, Electronic Arts, Emporio Armani, KFC, and more.
Other Celebs Who Have Struck It Big As Instagram Influencers
Lionel Messi: Even though compared to Ronaldo, Lionel Messi earned less than half from his Instagram posts, according to https://www.forbes.com; he remains one of the world’s best-paid athletes making $23.3 million from Instagram sponsorships each year. He has a lifetime deal with Adidas while his other high-profile Instagram partnerships include Lays, Jacob & Co, a leading jewelry brand, as well as lucrative deals with companies as diverse as Pepsi, Huawei Technologies, Gillette, MasterCard, Turkish Airlines According to https://www.brandwatch.com, the captain of the Argentinian national football team has 143 million followers.
Neymar da Silva: With 126 million followers on Instagram, the top-rated Brazilian footballer who plays for the Brazilian national team has been a relatively recent phenomenon on Instagram. However, his stunning performance on the field has given him huge traction with global brands like Nike, Qatar National Bank Group, McDonald’s, Gillette, Red Bull, and Beats by Dre, among others. With 124 million followers on Instagram, he is a very hot property indeed for brands that are ready to pay him as much as $722,000 for an Instagram post. While celebs can have this kind of a reach due to their special status, small businesses can buy Instagram likes 50 at a time for very small amounts of money.
David Beckham: Even though he has quit playing for more than six years, David Beckham continues to be as much a celebrity as he was in his footballer days with more than 57.4 million Instagram followers. His celebrity status can be gauged from that fact that he stands in the fourth place even today sponsoring posts for brands like Adidas, H&M, Kent & Curwen, Samsung, Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Sainsbury’s, and Tudor Watch that enabled him to rake in more than $11.5 million making him the highest-paid British Instagram influencer.
LeBron James: The sole basketball player to appear in the list of the most powerful Instagram influencers, James is one of the greatest athletes the world has seen. Not only is he the winner of the NBA Most Valuable Player Award 4 times but he has added to his not inconsiderable value by appearing in Hollywood films and on TV. He has currently around 57.9 million followers. He earns more than $300,000 per sponsored post on Instagram and annual earnings from Instagram sponsorships are reported to be around $53 million from brands like Nike, Samsung, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Beats by Dre, Upper Deck, etc.
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira: More commonly known as Ronaldinho, the star footballer retains much of his celebrity status on social media even though he has retired. With 48 million followers on Instagram, the former Barcelona, PSG, and AC Milan star has sponsorship deals with brands like Pepsi, Gatorade, Lenovo, Danone, and Electronic Arts and earns around $256,000 per post.
James Rodriguez: The World Cup Golden Boot winner who currently plays for the Columbian national football team and Real Madrid has around 42.9 million followers on Instagram. The star footballer has brand endorsement deals with companies like Adidas, Huawei Technologies, Pepsi, Gatorade, Hugo Boss, and Dentics while has appeared earlier for Calvin Klein. According to https://www.forbes.com, his Real Madrid contract gives him $21.4 million annually. His brand endorsements yield an additional 44 million annually.
Gareth Bale: The Real Madrid winger and member of the Wales national football team, Gareth Bale has 41.1 million Instagram followers. As per https://www.forbes.com, he earns $6.5 million from brand endorsements. His main collaborations are with companies like Adidas, Nissan, Foot Locker, BT Sport, EA Sports, and Lucozade.
Conclusion
While the world’s top sportspersons earn millions of dollars from playing the sport they excel in, Instagram brand partnerships also represent a very lucrative source of income, often lasting far beyond their sports careers.