Social Media & Sports

Which Sports League Sees the Most Action on Instagram?

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the major sports league with most action on Instagram. According to data provided by InfluencerDB, the number of hashtags #NBA peaked at around 27.9k in June when the Golden State Warriors won the 2017 NBA Championship, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals.

Even the National Football League (NFL) couldn't beat this, accumulating 16.7k #NFL hashtags with the final games having been played in January 2017. The monthly count for September is slightly higher, standing at 17.5k. Maybe #NBA beats #NFL because the audience is sitting closer to the action during the games and smartphone photos yield better results that way.

Description

This chart shows the number of hashtags referring to major U.S. sports leagues in 2016/2017

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Number of Facebook likes for National Basketball Association (NBA) teams as of June 2025 (in millions)
Number of Instagram followers of National Basketball Association (NBA) teams as of June 2026 (in millions)
Combined social media followers of NBA teams as of November 2019, by team (in millions)
Premium statistics
Football clubs with the most engagement on Instagram between January and February 2023 (in million actions)
Most followed teams from Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) on Instagram in April 2024 and May 2025, by team (in 1,000s)
Number of Instagram followers of MLB teams as of November 2019, by team (in 1,000s)

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