2024 in Sports: A Cross-Country Analysis of Keywords and Publisher Performance
3. December 2024As the year 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to take a closer look at the trends that shaped this year in Google’s news categories. This article is part of a series analysing mobile visibility for publishers and platforms across all of those categories. Today, the focus is on the “Sports” category, diving into how sports-related content performed in Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. throughout the year and which publishers were on top.
We will examine each country by first looking at the top 10 keywords in the “Sports” category, which stem from both Google News and Google Trends and hence mirror what Google deemed as newsworthy as well as what the readers found interesting. The first 100 of those keywords will then be inspected even further to determine which sports dominated the conversation. Finally, the analysis turns to the top 10 publishers and platforms in each country, charting their visibility trends over the course of the year.
The data used is all taken directly from the Trisolute News Dashboard. To ensure a standardised analysis across all countries, we applied the following filter-settings:
- Mobile Visibility Overall
- Date range: 01/01/2024 – 11/30/2024
- Top 10 competitors
- All 10 ranking types: News Box (Headline, Text, Carousel), Video Box, Publisher Carousel, Other Carousel, Web Story, Featured Snippet, Visual Digest, Organic
- Individual keyword set with the keyword sources Extracted Google News Topics, Google News Topics, Google Trends
- Category: Sports
2024 was an exceptionally sporty year, featuring major global events such as the Olympics and the UEFA European Football Championship. Do these extraordinary events reflect permanently in the top keywords? How do these trends differ from country to country? Let’s dive into the data and answer these and more questions.
Germany: Football’s reign and the impact of major events
To kick off the analysis, we turn our attention to Germany. As one of Europe’s largest sports markets, Germany is home to passionate fans across a wide range of sports, from football and Formula 1 to tennis and handball. With 2024 featuring major events like the UEFA European Football Championship and the Olympics, the question arises: which sports and topics captured the most attention among German audiences and reached the highest visibility for news publishers?
Top Keywords: Football dominates, with a nod to F1 and handball
- fc bayern
- bvb
- formel 1
- bayern
- schalke
- em
- borussia dortmund
- real madrid
- handball
- champions league
The top 10 sports-related keywords in Germany highlight the country’s enduring passion for football, with Bundesliga-clubs like FC Bayern, Borussia Dortmund (BVB) and Schalke 04 dominating the list. Major football competitions such as the UEFA European Championship (EM) and the Champions League also feature prominently, reflecting the significant impact of international tournaments in German news coverage.
Beyond football, keywords like “formel 1” (Formula 1; 3rd place) and “handball” (9th place) point to the popularity of other sports. The inclusion of global football brands like Real Madrid demonstrates the strong influence of international football on publisher performance on the German market.
While the top 10 keywords provide a clear snapshot of the dominant sports topics in Germany, a deeper look into the top 100 keywords offers more detailed insights into the overall distribution of interest across sports:
Mobile visibility German news publishers and platforms in the “Sports” category
The breakdown of Germany’s top 100 sports-related keywords reveals a clear dominance of football, which accounts to 78% of the total, while all other sports combined make up the remaining 22% (left pie-chart). A closer look at the football-related keywords shows that over half (55%) of those keywords are tied to German football clubs, as was already suggested in the top 10 keywords. Meanwhile, 12% are linked to international football clubs, keywords related to people, such as players and coaches, make up 18% and general football-terms account for 14%.
Top Publishers: BILD dominates the ranking in 2024
To further explore the performance of sports content in Germany, we identified the top 10 publishers in the “Sports” category based on their mobile visibility and the above mentioned keywords in 2024:
The following chart from the Trisolute News Dashboard visualises the mobile visibility trends of these top 10 publishers over the course of 2024:
BILD maintained the highest visibility among all publishers and platforms for most of the year, consistently outperforming competitors until it eventually was overtaken by YouTube in September 2024. The UEFA European Football Championship (June 14 – July 14) and the Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11) were highly-covered events for many publishers. BILD‘s leadership during this period suggests strong coverage of the events, while YouTube‘s growth afterwards might reflect its ability to capitalise on video highlights from both events. Similarly, Sport1 and Sportschau maintained stable positions, likely benefiting from their broad sports coverage during these global events.
The Bundesliga-season kicked off on August 16, shortly after the Olympics, potentially contributing to visibility shifts among publishers focused on football. Additionally, publishers like Transfermarkt and kicker may have experienced spikes in visibility during the summer transfer window (July 1 – August 31), as fans followed player movements and rumors.
Sport1 and Sportschau demonstrated consistent performance throughout the year, maintaining their positions in third and fourth place. Their stable visibility highlights their strong presence in sports coverage, even during major events like the EM and Olympics. In contrast, the lower-ranked publishers and platforms, including Transfermarkt, kicker and Wikipedia, experienced more fluctuation. SPIEGEL showed a slight peak during the time of the EM while T-Online remained relatively flat throughout the year. Meanwhile, Eurosport consistently held the lowest visibility among the top 10.
U.K.: The home of football and beyond
Next, we turn our focus to the U.K., a country with a rich sporting heritage and a diverse fan base spanning football, cricket, rugby and beyond. As one of the world’s most passionate sports markets, the U.K. provides a unique perspective on how global and local sporting events shape the online visibility of publishers.
Top Keywords: English football takes center stage
-
- liverpool
- arsenal
- man utd
- chelsea
- manchester united
- man city
- england
- erik ten hag
- f1
- tottenham
The top 10 sports-related keywords in the U.K. highlight the nation’s deep connection to football, with all but one keyword focused on the sport. English football dominates the list including clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal, while the inclusion of ‘england’ and ‘eric ten hag’ also reflects the interest in both the national team and prominent figures in the sport.
The single non-football keyword, ‘f1’, indicates a secondary interest in motorsports, likely tied to the relatively high number of U.K. drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris or George Russell that are part of this season’s grid.
The top 10 keywords give an initial glimpse into the sports topics that captured the attention in the U.K. in 2024. However, by examining the full list of 100 keywords, we can better understand the distribution of interest between football and other sports, as well as the specific focus within football itself:
Distribution of keywords between football and other sports (left), breakdown of football-related keywords in subcategories (right)
The left pie chart illustrates that football accounts for 57% of the top 100 keywords in the U.K., while other sports make up 43%. This highlights football’s dominant presence, but also shows significant interest in other sports. The right chart once again breaks down the football-related keywords. A significant 70% are tied to football clubs, while keywords related to people like players or managers make up 21%. General football-terms account for 9%.
Since the percentage of other sports is so remarkable in this case, it seems interesting to break down those into sub categories as well:
Distribution of keywords across other “Sports” categories
The breakdown of keywords relating to other sports than football reveals a diverse range of interests. Formula 1 holds the largest share with 23%, most likely due to this season’s success of British drivers and teams. Tennis, Cricket and other sports each account for 14%, while boxing contributes 9%. The Olympics and general terms each make up 7% and 14% respectively.
This distribution underscores the U.K.’s broad sporting interests, with a particularly strong focus on motorsports, raquet sports, and traditional staples like cricket, alongside global events such as the Olympics.
Top Publishers: A mix of local giants and global platforms
To gain deeper insights into the U.K. sports media landscape, we once again analysed the top 10 publishers in the “Sports” category. These publishers and platforms were identified based on their mobile visibility for the above mentioned keywords in 2024.
The following chart from the Trisolute News Dashboard visualises the mobile visibility trends of these top 10 publishers over the course of 2024:
Mobile visibility of U.K. news publishers and platforms in the “Sports” category
The visibility trends in the U.K. reveal several key insights into the competitive landscape of publishers and platforms in the “Sports” category. YouTube.com maintained a strong lead throughout the year, solidifying its position as the most visible platform, with its dominance growing even further in the latter half of 2024, likely driven by its extensive video content on global events like the Olympics and the European Championship. For the first half of the year, Sky Sports.com remained in the second position before experiencing a drop in visibility in June and hence being overtaken by The Guardian.com and BBC.co.uk. The remaining publishers and platforms had a head-to-head-race throughout the year with some fluctuations, notably a rise in Instagram.com‘s visibility starting in April, as well as Dailymail.co.uk‘s peak in visibility in May.
Interestingly, the top 10 publishers in the U.K. are not strictly limited to U.K.-specific domains. While Dailymail.co.uk, BBC.co.uk and Independent.co.uk are prominent local representatives, international domains such as YouTube.com or Wikipedia.org also rank highly. Notably, BBC appears twice in the rankings, with both its U.K.-specific domain (bbc.co.uk) and its international counterpart (bbc.com), showcasing the broadcaster’s wide-reaching influence.
U.S.: The land of many sports
Finally, we turn our focus to the U.S., a country with a uniquely diverse sports culture. From American Football and Basketball to Baseball and beyond, the U.S. offer a fascinating look at how a wide variety of sports that is not mainly focused on one, like it was the case in Germany and the U.K., compete for visibility.
Top Keywords: American Football and basketball dominate the field
- caitlin clark
- 2024
- chiefs
- 49ers
- 2024 nfl draft
- cowboys
- celtics
- lakers
- bears
- nfl draft
The top 10 sports-related keywords in the U.S. reflect the dominance of American Football and basketball. Keywords like ‘chiefs’, ’49ers’, ‘cowboys’ and ‘bears’ highlight the strong presence of NFL teams, while ‘2024 nfl draft’ and ‘nfl draft’ point to the league’s ability to sustain interest beyond the regular season. Basketball also features prominently, with mentions of teams such as the Celtics and Lakers.
The inclusion of ‘caitlin clark’, a standout basketball player, as the top keyword of 2024, underlines the growing interest in individual athletes and college sports as well as women in sports.
Once again, analysing the top 100 keywords in the “Sports” category promises a more insightful analysis of the previous year and provides a deeper understanding of how interest in the U.S. is distributed across different sports:
Distribution of sports-related keywords in the US
The pie chart illustrates the distribution of the top 100 sports-related keywords in the U.S., with American Football leading at 38%, closely followed by basketball with 26%. This distribution reflects the diversity of the U.S. sports landscape, where there is not one definite sport that overpowers all others, like it is the case with football/soccer in Germany and the U.K., but rather a variety of sports, whose coverage promises equal amounts of visibility for news publishers. Baseball accounts for 10%, showcasing its continued importance as a traditional American pastime, while soccer captures 9%, pointing to this sport’s growing popularity in the U.S.. Keywords related to the Olympics make up 6% while 11% fall under general terms or other sports.
Top Publishers: Dominance of traditional media and digital giants
The following chart from the Trisolute News Dashboard visualises the mobile visibility trends of these top 10 publishers over the course of 2024:
Mobile visibility of U.S. news publishers and platforms in the “Sports” category
YouTube maintained a commanding lead in mobile visibility throughout the year, showcasing a drastic rise in visibility starting in August. ESPN serves as the runner-up, with a stable showcasing of visibility throughout the year and only a slight drop in August. CBS Sports and Yahoo closely follow, showing moderate fluctuations but maintaining mid-tier visibility, the same goes for USA Today and Sports Illustrated.
Interestingly, even platforms that solely focus on one sport, like the official NFL– or Baseball-websites made it into the top 10 publishers of 2024 in the U.S., underlining the nation’s passion for those sports.
At the lower end of the rankings, Twitter/X and Instagram show more variability. Twitter/X, while popular for real-time updates, struggle to match the sustained visibility of content-focused publishers.
Final reflections: Global trends in sports content
This analysis across Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. provides a comprehensive look at how sports content was covered in different countries in 2024. Looking at the data, a clear pattern emerges: football dominates as the most visible sport in Germany and the U.K., where it accounts for the vast majority of the keywords. In the U.S., American Football and basketball lead, reflecting the country’s unique sports landscape, though football/soccer continues to make inroads even here.
The breakdown of keywords also reveals the impact on global sports events, such as the UEFA European Championship and the Olympics on publisher visibility.
Interestingly, several keywords appear in the top 100 across multiple countries, with ‘fc barcelona’ being the only one featured in all three. Other transnational overlaps include clubs like ‘arsenal’, ‘manchester united’ and ‘real madrid’, along with major topics such as ‘champions league’ and ‘olympics’.
Ultimately, the analysis underscores the balance between local preferences and global appeal, with each country reflecting its unique sports culture while still contributing to shared global narratives.
Check out our other articles we have written on the topic of sports in 2024:
- A news SEO keyword review on the 2024 Olympics
- An extensive real-time analysis on the EURO 2024
- A specific look on the EURO 2024 from a DACH-publisher’s perspective (in German)
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