Each week, Sportcal journalists select top tweets that summarise the social media buzz in our sector, underpinned by GlobalData’s analytics. These social media signals help us understand brand sentiments and the themes driving conversations on social platforms. This new, thematic coverage is driven by our underlying Disruptor data which tracks all major deals, patents, company filings, hiring patterns, and social media buzz across our sectors. 

The month of May saw a significant spike in social media mentions of the phrase ‘hockey’ among sports influencers as the men’s International Ice Hockey World Federation (IIHF) championships drove interest.

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The peak occurred on May 17, when four matches were played: Finland against France, Canada against Kazakhstan, the US against Austria, and, most significantly, Latvia against Norway in Riga. This match drove interest within Latvia, with posts among key influencers (including experts, journalists, and business leaders) jumping from six, the week prior, to 202. This interest was maintained as the following week saw 117 posts as Latvia made it to the semi-finals.

Internationally, a spike in mentions is similarly visible in April, as the Women’s IIHF Championships saw a smaller, but still significant, increase in mentions of ‘hockey’. Increasing as the tournament commenced on 5 April, the peak came two days after the final, as discussions continued about the result.

Looking back further, November also saw a spike in posts as the Friendship Four took place at The SSE Arena, Belfast over Thanksgiving weekend.

The trend mirrors 2022, with excitement around international championships, illustrating the impact of tournaments on global interest. May 2022 saw the highest influencer engagement of the year, with 10,631 posts as the IIHF tournament took place from May 13 to 29, while May 2023 saw a total of 10,407 posts.

Influencer interest remains primarily in US and Canada. 2,888 posts were made from the US by 1,956 contributors in the last 90 days; whilst Canadian interest was not far behind with 2,549 posts from 1,652 contributors.