New research has revealed the football influencers who make the most money through their social media channels, with many earning more than top Premier League stars.
The study from OddsMatrix analysed the Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube accounts of some of the most popular influencers in the footballing world as well as Premier League players to determine how much money they could earn every year through their socials.
The research shows that some influencers could earn much more than the average Premier League player’s salary of £3.1million a year (£60,000 a week).
Full results from the study show that IShowSpeed, who gained popularity from his energetic streams and love for Cristiano Ronaldo, earns by far the most, and more than the majority of Premier League footballers.
Astronomical following
The American influencer earns an estimated £22.3million per year thanks to his astronomical following of over 119 million people across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Known to pay more than other platforms, IShowSpeed gets almost £17million through his YouTube account, which has 41.2 million followers.
Despite this, he still only receives 12.5 per cent of his idol’s wages, after Ronaldo recently signed a mega new deal at Al-Nassr worth a staggering £178million a year.
However, Speed does earn more per year than every Premier League player’s wage, except for Erling Haaland.
There is a surprise in second place as Irish content creator John Nellis earns an estimated £14.9million per year from social media.
Nellis has filmed with some of football’s biggest stars, such as Kylian Mbappe, Heung-Min Son and Kobbie Mainoo, and his combined following of almost 11 million across social channels means he beats Premier League footballers in the list.
Jeremy Lynch is in third, as the freestyler rakes in £11.3million each year, more than the likes of Bukayo Saka and William Saliba.
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Regular poster
As a regular poster on Instagram, more than 250 times in the past year, he brought in an estimated £5.8million in the past 12 months through sponsorships.
The highest-ranked Premier League player in the list is Mohamed Salah. Liverpool’s star man has more than 60 million followers on Instagram, and that could net him a cool £10.7million each year, to supplement his playing wage of £20.8million.
In fifth is Erling Haaland, as Manchester City’s number nine could earn £6.2million if he decided to focus on making a career out of Instagram.
However, with a yearly wage of £27.3million from playing, we don’t think he will be turning to his 38 million followers to do that anytime soon.
A familiar face is in sixth, as KSI takes the spot thanks to earning £4.4million through his social media.
The President of Baller League UK, among his many other talents, KSI doesn’t post as regularly as others in this list, so his earnings could increase a whole lot more if he did. Particularly with his combined following of 41.6 million across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Youngest member
The youngest member of the top 10, Thogden, is in seventh, as his football content nets him around £4.2million per year. This is over half a million more than Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus, who could pocket £3.7million from his 22.4 million Instagram followers.
Billy Wingrove is in ninth, as the other half of the F2 duo earns £3.1million per year.
Marcus Rashford could earn £2.7million if he focused on posting to his audience of 17.1 million on Instagram, completes the top 10.
Other key names in the study include Mark Goldbridge in 20th, who nets an estimated £1.4million each year and has just 11 Prem players ahead of him, and Robbie Lyle, founder of AFTV, who brings in £703,276 from his personal accounts in 33rd.
Soccer Aid star Angry Ginge, ranks in 43rd with £522,783 earned from his 3.8 million followers.
However, he heavily adds to this through his Twitch channel, where he regularly goes live.
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Geoffrey H. Latayan