Wrestling Ranks Fourth on Social Media Among International Federations

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland – United World Wrestling ranked fourth on social media among 35 international federations, according to an analysis performed and released by RedTorch, a social media tracking platform.

The analysis reviewed all recognized IFs and rated their performance on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube based on a variety of factors.

Wrestling placed fourth overall, jumping seven places from the 2016 analysis. The federation, which launched many of its accounts in 2013, also boasted the second-ranked Instagram account and the third-ranked Facebook page.

Growth rates among wrestling’s social media platforms was also notable in 2017 with the sport’s Twitter audience increasing 46-percent and its YouTube viewership increasing 92-percent. Both increases were ranked third among all IFs.

YouTube growth was attributed to the popularity of the 2017 Wrestling World Championships in Paris, while Facebook increases were pegged to specialty documentary coverage like "Sacrifice," a short film providing fans as inside look at the training conditions and personal lives of wrestlers in Cuba.

Wrestling’s media department was also honored last week in the United States winning the "New Media Specialists of the Year Award" as presented by the National Wrestling Media Association (NWMA). In giving the award, the NWMA cited United World Wrestling’s short documentary features, match coverage and highlight clips from competitions around the world.

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