ONE Championship touts growth in viewership, engagement

MANILA, Philippines -- ONE Championship on Thursday highlighted its growth in viewership and engagement in 2020, where it emerged as one of the top 10 global sports properties in the world, according to a report by Nielsen.

Nielsen's report, "How the World's Biggest Sports Properties Engaged Fans in 2020," looked for the connection between fans and sports which it says is "a continually evolving relationship, with new trends and dynamics developing every year."

"Many of the largest global entities have been at the forefront of building their fan bases and actively engaging them to develop a natural and mutually beneficial conversation. Fans around the world expect more content and new ways to access their favorite events. Sports entities have responded by creating new content types, with greater volume, increased frequency and higher value engagements," the report said.

According to the Nielsen report, ONE Championship is growing at the fastest rate of any major global sports property.

Its digital follower growth across Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube is at +113% -- 28% higher than the next closest sports property in the Nielsen study.

ONE Championship sits at No. 7 overall in total followers across these platforms, per Nielsen.

In cumulative reach, ONE Championship ranks third behind the English Premier League (first) and UEFA Champions League (second), and ahead of the UFC (sixth), according to Nielsen. Cumulative reach measures the number of unique viewers who tune in to watch at least one minute of a TV broadcast.

In terms of total video view, ONE Championship ranks fourth overall, with more than 6.1 billion across Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, just behind the UFC (third) and NFL (second).

In terms of engagement on Facebook, ONE Championship ranks fifth, just behind the NBA (fourth) and ahead of the UFC (sixth). Football properties EPL, UEFA, and LaLiga round out the top three, per Nielsen.

ONE Championship also ranked 10th in 2020 broadcast hours despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, including a span of nearly three months without live global events, according to Nielsen.