1. www.kawo.com
Mailman Report: Tennis
China’s Grand Slam
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2. Study Overview
Mailman analysed the performance of the top professional tennis players
on Weibo, China’s leading social media channel. The players in this report
are the current top 10 players from the ATP & WTA singles rankings that
have a total number of followers over 50,000.
The data in this report was provided by KAWO. For more information, visit
www.kawo.com

3. Li Na’s 2nd Grand Slam victory accelerated the
growing interest of tennis in China. It has
become a major sport for China, with many
tennis players’ popularity rivalling football
stars and A-list celebrities.

4. Matrix
Followers
Total # of followers on
each official Weibo
account.
Mentions
# of mentions on
Weibo over a 30 day
period.
Engagement
Average # of
forwards, comments
and likes per post.
Activity
# of times each player
has posted over a 30
day period.
We assessed digital competence in categories, awarding points in
relation to position in each category; first place receives 10 points, last
place receives 1 point.
4

5. PLAYER FOLLOWERS ENGAGEMENT MENTIONS ACTIVITY FINAL SCORE
Li Na 10 10 10 8 38 points
Maria Sharapova 9 7 8 9 33 points
Novak Djokovic 8 9 9 1 27 points
Victoria Azarenka 6 6 7 4 23 points
Andy Murray 7 2 2 10 21 points
Serena Williams 1 5 5 6 17 points
Petra Kvitova 4 1 4 8 17 points
Ana Ivanovic 2 8 1 6 17 points
Agnieszka Radwanska 3 4 6 3 16 points
Caroline Wozniacki 5 3 3 3 14 points
Final Results

6. Followers
3m
average number of followers
Li Na’s success on the court has generated a remarkable level of followers on Chinese
social media, surpassing Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s number of fans.
+ Li Na, with over 22 millions fans, dominates this
category with over 10 times more fans than her nearest
rival.
- Serena Williams, number one in the women’s rankings,
has less than 100,000 followers.
Insight

7. + Li Na possesses the strongest engagement with over
5,000 forwards and comments, benefiting from posting
in her native Chinese.
- Andy Murray and Petra Kvitova’s engagement is the
lowest, reflecting their lack of varied content.
Engagement
787
average number of forwards &
comments/post
Compared against their number of followers, Ana Ivanovic generates the highest engagem
with Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic second and third respectively.Insight

8. + Li Na scores highest in this category with over
100,000 mentions over the 30 day period.
- Ana Ivanovic was mentioned less than 100 times in
discussions online.
8,145
average number of mentions
on Weibo
Mentions
Novak Djokovic was mentioned over 90,000 times in online discussions, more than
David Beckham (65,000 mentions), Wayne Rooney (39,000 mentions) and Lebron
James (33,000) in the same period.
Insight

9. + Andy Murray posted 11 times over the 30 day period.
- Novak Djokovic did not post once, last posting
November 2013.
Activity
6
average number of posts over
a 30 day period
This average number of posts is relatively low, depriving their fans of regular
content. In comparison, the top 10 footballers posted on average 20 times
over the same 30 day period.
Insight

10. Maria
Sharapova Victoria
Azarenka
Li Na
Agnieszka
Radwanska
Ana
Ivanovic
Serena
Williams
Andy
Murray
Final Table
Points
40
30
20
10
Novak
Djokovic
Petra
Kvitova
Caroline
Wozniacki

11. WTA
The top 10 is
dominated by female
players
Likes
‘Likes’ have become an
increasingly popular
way to engage instead
of forwards or
comments
WeChat
There are several
unverified player &
event accounts
registered on WeChat
Further Insights

12. Exploit domestic events
leverage appearances at the China events to
generate buzz around the players account
Tips
www.kawo.com
Official accounts
increase in the number of player accounts
online, especially men’s, to increase
awareness around the sport & individuals
WeChat
Develop a personal relationship with their fans

13. thanks for listening ;)
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