Manchester United are the world’s most popular and polarizing sports team. People love them or hate them, and more people have strong feelings about Man United than any other club in any league worldwide. Polls show that they have approximately 680,000,000 million supporters worldwide. Man United also accounts for a majority of the world’s Premier League television viewers.
Yes, a 51% and higher constitutes a majority.
Some statistics from sports marketing company Repucom, which appeared in The Telegraph today:
— Man United command more than 51 per cent of the Premier League’s entire global TV audience with matches watched in over 200 countries worldwide.
— United have over 58 million followers on Facebook and 3.4 million Twitter followers, with a cumulative total of 102 million followers across all social media.
— When Radamel Falcao signed for the club on transfer deadline day, he saw a 909% in searches for his name on Google compared to the day he signed for Atletico Madrid.
— Angel di Maria saw a 1111% increase in Google searches on the day his transfer from Real Madrid was announced by United.
— When Daley Blind joined from Ajax in August his total Twitter following increased by 72%, with his daily rate of followers up a staggering 5336%.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partners with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN2