If you didn’t already know, the NBA is extremely popular across the entire globe. Out of all the US-based professional sports league, they’re the top dog. Here’s proof.

Per Basketball News, the NBA has just surpassed 70 million followers on Instagram, more than the MLB, NHL, and NFL combined, making the league a top-10 followed page on IG as a whole.

Just wait until you hear the numbers from last year for the Association, though. The NBA was the most-viewed sports league on all platforms, compiling 24 billion views and 2.3 million engagements. In 2021 alone, the NBA gained 18 million new followers across Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

To put their success into perspective, the NFL has 25 million followers, MLB 8.9 million, and the NHL at 5.5 million. Kevin Estevez, who was hired by the NBA as a digital content strategist, explained how they separate themselves from the rest in terms of engagement.

Via Basketball News:

“What’s really been our guiding philosophy throughout is we’ve tried to be a first-mover on all of these platforms, and in many cases, we were the first sports-league account on the platform,” Esteves explained. “Then, it’s about optimizing content for the platform that we’re on — not just spraying the same piece of content across all of our platforms, but really optimizing for each platform, nurturing that fan base and giving them exactly what they want. That’s sort of been key in our recipe for success.”

The NBA is doing it the right way. With more stars breaking into the scene each and every season, they’re only going to grow even more.