A new research report commissioned by online gambling company Playojo examines which Canadian athletes are the most influential (and monetizable) on social media.
The study reports that professional soccer player, Alphonso Davies, is the highest-earning sports star from Canada, potentially earning up to $87,176 per sponsored Instagram post, followed by former UFC champion, Georges St-Pierre (over $70,000 per sponsored post), and NBA player Tristan Thompson (just under $65,000 per post).
Age doesn’t seem to play a role in popularity or how much these Canadian athlete influencers can make outside of their sport, with Davies at 22, Thompson at 32, and St-Pierre at 42 years old.
Interestingly, while the NBA’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came in fourth based on what he can make per post, his average “likes” eclipse everyone else’s on the list, attributing him with the highest engagement rate (18.49% versus Davies’ 3.2%) among all Canadian athlete influencers.
Basketball ranks as the most influential sport (five out of the top 10 influencers below play for the NBA), followed by a range of sports including soccer, tennis, mixed martial arts, professional wrestling, and baseball.
The complete top 10 list includes:
| Athlete | Sport | IG followers | Eng. rate | Avg likes | Per post | Per story | Per reel |
| Alphonso Davies | Soccer | 5,400,000 | 3.20% | 173,000 | $87,176.00 | $43,656.00 | $113,424.00 |
| Georges St-Pierre | MMA | 4,480,000 | 0.60% | 26,900 | $70,584.00 | $35,360.00 | $91,664.00 |
| Tristan Thompson | Basketball | 3,970,000 | 4.33% | 170,000 | $64,736.00 | $32,368.00 | $84,184.00 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Basketball | 2,290,000 | 18.49% | 422,000 | $42,432.00 | $21,216.00 | $55,216.00 |
| Genie Bouchard | Tennis | 2,420,000 | 1.21% | 28,800 | $38,352.00 | $19,176.00 | $49,776.00 |
| Andrew Wiggins | Basketball | 2,210,000 | 2.33% | 50,900 | $35,360.00 | $17,680.00 | $45,968.00 |
| Adam Copeland | WWE | 2,080,000 | 2.27% | 46,600 | $33,320.00 | $16,728.00 | $43,248.00 |
| Jamal Murray | Basketball | 1,300,000 | 4.43% | 57,000 | $21,216.00 | $10,594.40 | $27,608.00 |
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr | Baseball | 1,270,000 | 2.48% | 31,200 | $20,400.00 | $10,159.20 | $26,384.00 |
| RJ Barrett | Basketball | 1,140,000 | 2.18% | 24,600 | $18,224.00 | $9,071.20 | $23,664.00 |
