Star names like Rooney and Rio making popularity pay thanks to Twitter

PUBLISHED: 17:30 EST, 3 November 2012 | UPDATED: 17:30 EST, 3 November 2012

Britain’s biggest sports stars, including Wayne Rooney, Jessica Ennis and Tom Daley, are cashing in on social networking by commanding hundreds of thousands of pounds from sponsors because of their popularity on Twitter and Facebook.

Big companies are increasingly willing to fork out lucrative contracts to athletes who boast large numbers of social media followers and who are actively engaged with them. In addition, stars can also bank between £5,000 and £10,000 for any endorsed tweets they agree to post.

Rooney and his Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand are the most followed Premier League players on Twitter. Rooney has more than 5.2million followers and Ferdinand has 3.5m — larger audiences than some prime-time TV shows.

Thanks: Wayne Rooney can profit from his huge following

They have carefully cultivated their Twitter presence over several years, while the global popularity of United, particularly in Asia, has helped increase their followers.

Social networking expert Nick Thain of Sports New Media said: ‘For an athlete with one million followers, £5,000 for a commercial tweet (with ‘AD’ in the copy) is realistic — it could be more — and in our experience this area is hotting up.’

A leading sports agent added: ‘Social media without question is enhancing players’ commercial opportunities. The most popular players and athletes are in a position to sell wares.’

Team GB pin-ups Ennis and Daley saw massive increases in their Twitter follower numbers during the Olympics. Daley has 2m followers and Ennis has 900,000.

Boost: Andy Murray's followers have increased with his recent success

Andy Murray saw a substantial rise in followers after winning Olympic Gold and becoming the first British Grand Slam winner for 76 years when beating Novak Djokovic in the US Open. He has 1.3m followers on Twitter.

Jamie Wynne-Morgan, managing director of M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, believes the increases will mean bumper pay rises.

He said: ‘Social media are now a big factor when sports stars extend or sign contracts.

‘A strong social media presence can add 50 per cent to an endorsement deal, potentially worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to top sports stars.

‘Brands are also starting to sign sports stars specifically because of their social presence.’