The Paris 2024 Olympics were not just a battleground for medals but also a showcase of digital influence, with Brazil emerging as a dominant force on social media. In an exclusive interview with Globo, Alex Huot, founder of Share of Voice AI and former social media director for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), shared his expert analysis on Brazil's digital success at the Games.
Full interview (in portuguese)
From Rebeca Andrade's phenomenal follower growth to Gabriel Medina's record-breaking post, Huot highlighted how Brazilian athletes captivated the world, creating an unprecedented wave of online engagement. His insights reveal the power of organic fan-driven growth and the pivotal role of social media in shaping the narrative of modern Olympic Games.
Gymnast leads the ranking of athletes who gained the most followers, and the surfer sets a record for likes during the Games in the French capital
By Sergio Arenillas — Rio de Janeiro 08/29/2024 12:42 PM Updated 12 hours ago
The Paris Olympics were the most digital of all time. Memes and influencers allowed millions of Brazilians to immerse themselves in the spirit of the competition. And, although the performance on the courts and arenas wasn't enough for Brazil to set a new medal record, the country was the champion on social media – largely due to the athletes, who were the main voices in spreading Olympic values. Rebeca Andrade led the ranking of follower gains during the Games, and Gabriel Medina had the most-liked photo.
To understand this digital strength of the athletes and the response from the Brazilian public, ge spoke with Alex Huot, founder of Share of Voice AI and former director of social media for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), an organization he was involved with for over 20 years, from 1998 to 2022.
Through data and with the help of artificial intelligence, Huot monitored the Olympic environment (athletes, national committees, international federations). The monitoring of social media data was conducted throughout the Olympics, and Brazil achieved excellent results. For the director of Share of Voice, the country once again demonstrated its ability to unite around the Games:
"In 2016, many doubted Brazil's ability to deliver (when organizing the Rio Olympics), but the country proved to be a force to be reckoned with, capable of anything. Now, in Paris, even though it didn't lead the medal table, Brazil certainly won the social media race. The lesson to be learned is to trust in Brazilian engagement."
Rebeca Andrade was the athlete who gained the most followers
Rebeca Andrade won four medals in Paris: one gold, two silvers, and one bronze. But the gymnast also shone outside the competition area. She gained more than eight million followers during the Olympics, surpassing Simone Biles (+4.9 million) and the official Olympics account (+3.3 million).
Huot highlights that in the case of Brazilian athletes, the growth appears to be entirely organic, driven by fans' passion rather than paid traffic, a more common strategy with brands and organizations.
A good example of this was Rayssa Leal. According to Share of Voice, a post by the skateboarder on the morning of the women's street competition (July 28) ended the day as the record-holder for engagement on X (formerly Twitter) among Olympic athletes' posts. For Huot, "this authenticity, the feeling of being inside an Olympic athlete's mind, is the gold of social media."
Rayssa Leal and Rebeca Andrade were among the top 10 most mentioned Olympic athletes on X, according to a survey by the platform itself. The same study showed that Brazil was the country that posted the most about the Paris Games.
Gabriel Medina had the most-liked photo
With more than nine million likes, the iconic photo of Gabriel "floating" in Tahiti outperformed posts by LeBron James, for example. Despite being followed by 160 million people, almost 12 times more than Medina, none of the basketball star's posts during the Olympics accumulated six million likes.
Medina's post also surpassed those of iconic names in the music industry, such as Taylor Swift, Céline Dion, and Justin Bieber. During the Olympic period, only posts by actor Robert Downey Jr., soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, and his wife Georgina Rodríguez (in a portrait with CR7) had more likes.
Another standout post was one by Medina alongside Rebeca Andrade, Rayssa Leal, and Bruninho during the women's volleyball semifinal between Brazil and the United States. With over two million likes in 24 hours, it was the most successful post between August 8 and 9. Interestingly, three of the four most followed Brazilian Olympic athletes on Instagram were in the photo: Gabriel (14 million), Rebeca (12 million), and Rayssa (9 million).
COB was the national committee that gained the most followers
According to Share of Voice AI measurements, Team Brazil (the official account of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, or COB) gained over 1.7 million followers (1,720,505), surpassing the growth of the U.S. (768,921) and Italian (238,627) national committees.
COB sees Brazil's progress at the Paris Olympics despite no record in medals or golds
In Huot's opinion, "fans unite through national pride," and "the fact that fans can receive news directly from the athletes is something magical." However, this enchantment comes with limitations.
"While fans want to know as much as possible about what's happening, athletes can't meet this demand because they're focused on the competition," Huot analyzed.
The Brazilian delegation at the opening of the Paris Olympics — Photo: REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel
Another important point in the digital relevance scenario is memes. According to Huot, if London 2012 was the first social media Olympics, Paris 2024 was the meme event (just ask Ana Sátila). But this agility in generating and consuming content also made this year's Games an edition marked by misinformation, as evidenced in the case of Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who was the target of a digital defamation campaign.
For Los Angeles 2028, the risk is expected to remain, especially because the Games will take place months before the U.S. election, but the outlook is positive for what Huot called "the Olympics of the future," an edition that should "set new standards in the use of augmented reality and fan integration through artificial intelligence."
"I believe Los Angeles 2028 will be much bigger than Paris 2024. First, because many tech companies are headquartered in California. The desire to integrate with the Olympics is always very strong, as the event offers a platform to showcase their latest products and launches. And the fact that Hollywood is involved will make this edition even more significant. Tom Cruise set the tone at the closing ceremony by indicating that the mission was accepted. With Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and the entire music scene, the potential for creating visually appealing and viral content is enormous. We will also see the inclusion of new sports like cricket (very popular in Southeast Asia), so the numbers should be huge," said the director of Share Of Voice.
Accounts that gained the most followers on Instagram during the Olympic Games: