It’s unclear how one should measure sporting success. Trophies won? Goals scored? Apparel sold? Net worth?

If, however, you are one of those new fangled types who would use a measure such as ‘social interactions’ to gauge success, then Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins of Fortnite fame is currently the third biggest sports star in the world.

An infographic shared by Bryce Blum of esports law firm ESG Law shows that with 66.7m social interactions in March, Ninja ranked only behind Real Madrid and former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo (136.8m) and basketballer LeBron James (76.2m).

Even more impressively it puts him ahead of the likes of Indian cricket sensation Virat Kohli (52m) and Barcelona striker Lionel Messi (51.3m), as well as football trio Neymar (50.1m), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (43.5m) and Sergio Ramos (40.2m), basketballer Shaquille O’Neal (38.8m) and MMA star Conor McGregor (31.5m).

Stat attack

The numbers come from Hookit.com which allows stat and sports fans to plunge headfirst into a world of social media related data.

For instance, Ninja is one of only two esports stars to have over one million social interactions, the other being former pro Call of Duty player and 100 Thieves owner Matt ‘Nadeshot’ Hagg.

Scrolling through my timeline and did a double take... @Ninja was third in social interactions among ALL athletes last month - only behind Ronaldo and LeBron. That’s insane.

Via @hookitcom (advanced sponsorship valuations company) pic.twitter.com/yXGy9CVCmj

— Bryce Blum (@esportslaw) April 12, 2018

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