Italian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo was the second most-talked about Australian sports star
Cricket comeback champion David Warner came in third, generating huge buzz in India
Josh Cavallo gained huge positive coverage as the first pro-footballer to come out as gay
Controversial basketball player Ben Simmons was the most-talked-about sportsperson in 2021, according to analysis by Meltwater. Data from billions of social media conversations, global news articles and broadcast mentions found that Simmons came out far ahead of all other sports stars.
Mentions of Simmons spiked after he was blamed for the 76ers poor season after Game 7 performance. He also hit the headlines in October when he was suspended for poor attitude, with a total of 4.7m mentions.
But most of the buzz around Australia’s sporting heroes has been positive in 2021, following a slew of international competition wins. Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo was the second most-mentioned sports star after winning the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, with cricket comeback champion David Warner the third most-talked-about.
Medals weren’t the only positive sports story in 2021. Adelaide United’s Josh Cavallo won global praise in October for becoming the first professional top-flight footballer to come out as gay.
"Australian sportspeople have made headlines worldwide, as following sports boomed despite the many competitions cancelled and postponed due to the pandemic. Australia’s stellar success in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics - punching above its weight to come fifth in the medals table - was the highlight of a big year for sport, so it’s not surprising to see our sports stars generating a big global buzz," says David Hickey, Executive Director, APAC for Meltwater.
As well as the total number of mentions, Meltwater also analyses the potential number of views of news stories and social media impressions. This saw the biggest single spike for tennis player Ash Barty in July 2021, when she became the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon in 41 years.
"Big news stories gain a lot of views, shares and overall impressions. Ash Barty’s Wimbledon triumph was this year’s biggest hit with over 2.5 billion impressions, followed by Josh Cavallo’s coming out in October, which generated over 1.5 billion impressions," says Hickey.
The other three "big spike" sports stars were Ben Simmons for his suspension in October (1.4 billion impressions), Daniel Ricciardo for his Italian Grand Prix win in September (971 million impressions) and David Warner for his stellar performance in November (776 million impressions).
Looking at positive vs negative vs neutral sentiment, swimmer Emma McKeon enjoyed the most positive sentiment and least negative sentiment following her four gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Ben Simmons suffered the most negative sentiment, though there was still plenty of positive coverage.
There were also regional differences, with Ben Simmons getting the biggest share of voice in the basketball-loving US, David Warner getting by far the biggest share in cricket-crazy India, and Daniel Ricciardo making the biggest buzz in Brazil.
Australia’s Top 10 most talked-about sport stars of 2021
1. Ben Simmons - 4.7m
Basketball player Ben Simmons plays for NBA team Philadelphia 76ers. In 2021 he recorded a double-double with a career-high 42 points and 12 assists in a match against Utah Jazz.
2. Daniel Ricciardo - 1.5m
Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo achieved his first race win with McLaren at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix in August 2021. It was Ricciardo’s eighth Grand Prix victory in Formula One in a decade of racing.
3. David Warner - 1.3m
Former Australian cricket captain David Warner stepped down from the top job in 2016 but remains one of Australia’s most prominent sporting celebrities. He made a huge comeback in 2021, overcoming injury to play a crucial role in winning the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, with three half-centuries. Warner has also been selected for the 2021-22 Ashes squad.
4. Ash Barty - 1m
Tennis player and former cricketer Ash Barty became the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon in 41 years in July 2021. She achieved the year-end world No. 1 ranking for the third year in a row in 2021, matching the feat of Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams. She also received the WTA Player of the Year award for the second time.
5. Patty Mills - 488k
Basketball player Patty Mills signed with NBA team Brooklyn Nets in August 2021. Mills has already set several records since his debut, and is the first player in NBA history who started the season with making his first 10 three pointers in the season.
6. Nick Kyrgios - 327k
Tennis player Nick Kyrgios had a difficult 2021, beset with injuries. Kyrgios is the sixth highest-ranked Australian in the current ATP rankings, having won six ATP titles and reached nine ATP finals.
7. Josh Cavallo - 326k
In October 2021, Adelaide United’s Josh Cavallo became the first professional top-flight footballer to come out as gay. He’s been praised for his courage across the world.
8. Aaron Finch - 242k
Limited overs cricket captain Aaron Finch became the leading run-getter for Australia in T20 format. He later captained Australia for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, leading the team to victory with an eight wicket win over New Zealand in the final.
9. Emma McKeon - 148k
Swimmer Emma McKeon won four gold medals from the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, matching Ian Thorpe’s record for the most number of Olympic gold medals won over the course of an Australian athlete's career.
10. Dylan Alcott - 135k
Wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball player Dylan Alcott became the third professional tennis player and only male player to win the calendar-year Golden Slam in 2021. He won singles titles in the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and the singles gold medal at the postponed 2020 Summer Paralympics
ENDS
Meltwater
Meltwater helps companies make better, more informed decisions based on insights from the outside. We believe that business strategy will be increasingly shaped by insights from online data. Organisations will look outside, beyond their internal reporting systems to a world of data that is constantly growing and changing. Our customers use these insights to make timely decisions based on real-time analysis.
More than 2000 companies use the Meltwater media intelligence platform across ANZ to stay on top of billions of social media conversations and track hundreds of thousands local and international online news publications. Globally, we work with over 34,000 organisations, with 55 local offices across six continents.
Meltwater also operates the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), a non-profit organisation devoted to nurturing future generations of entrepreneurs.