MESSI vs.

RONALDO
WHO IS THE MOST MARKETABLE?
Both players were tested in 15 markets against eight different criteria, (including public awareness,
appeal, aspiration, breakthrough, endorsement, influence, trendsetting and trust attributes) which
provides an insight what people think of them and how good they are as brand endorsers.

Based on the results of combining these defining attributes, an overall marketability scores is
generated called a 'DBI Score'.

82.4 84.1
*GLOBAL
*GLOBAL DBI SCORE
DBI SCORE
VS.

Lionel Messi Cristiano Ronaldo

TOP ENDORSEMENT DEALS

MESSI I RONALDO
ADIDAS TURKISH AIRLINES NIKE EMIRATES HERBALIFE
HEAD & SHOULDERS PAO FACIAL FITNESS
OOREDOO TAG HEUER
COLLECTABILLIA COLLECTABILLIA
SPACE SCOOTER NOVO BANCO
FIFA AUDEMARS PIGUET CLEAR SHAMPOO
DOLCE & GABBANA SAMSUNG
SAMSUNG PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER
PEPSI GILLETTE JACOB & CO

$ 21.25m $ 22.5m
SOCIAL MEDIA VALUE
Social Media tells a lot about how each player is succeeding in interacting with their fan base.
Due in large part to Ronaldo's reach online, his figures and values dwarf those of Messi.

MESSI I RONALDO

75.7 102.5
million Facebook fans million Facebook fans

$ 62,500 $ 143,750
avg. value of Lionel Messi avg. value of Cristiano Ronaldo
Facebook posts Facebook posts

*GLOBAL AWARENESS

MESSI I RONALDO

87% 92%
OF PEOPLE OF PEOPLE
GLOBALLY KNOW GLOBALLY KNOW
OF MESSI OF RONALDO

91% 91% 94%

84%
Globally, 5% more people have heard of Ronaldo than Messi where the same percentage of men
know of Messi as women know of Ronaldo.

A WORLD DIVIDED
Of the 15 markets studied, only two had a higher percentage of people that knew of
Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi’s native, Argentina and China.

MESSI RONALDO

MARKET BY MARKET: WHO KNOWS WHO?

There are a number of reasons as to why public awareness of Messi and Ronaldo shifts between
markets, and such shifts can be rather large. For example, 30% of the US population know of
Lionel Messi whilst 99% of all Brazilians and Spaniards know of Ronaldo.

MESSI I RONALDO

ARG 99% 96%

41% 61% AUS

96% 99% BRA

CHN 89% 84%

83% 90% FRA

88% 92% DE

71% 73% IND

90% 96% ITL

89%90% 96%
90 % JPN

98% 98% MEX

70% 95% RUS

98% 99% ESP

95% 97% TUR

73% 89% UK

30% 40% USA

87% 92% Global

WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF THEM

Whilst 5% more people know of Ronaldo globally, Messi enjoys a much higher proportion of people
that know of him saying that they also like him - a trend seen across a number of his other
'marketabiliity' defining attributes.

MESSI I RONALDO
76% TRUST 68%
80% TRENDSETTING 81%
88% INFLUENCE 86%
86% ENDORSEMENT 82%
75% BREAKTHROUGH 68%
84% ASPIRATION 80%
77% APPEAL 68%

*GLOBAL APPEAL
Of those that know of either player, here is what they think of them.

MESSI I RONALDO
26%
LIKE HIM A LOT
18%
LIKE HIM A LOT

78%
LIKE HIM
68%
LIKE HIM

THE GENERATION GAP

MESSI I RONALDO
86% 63% 17 & UNDER 60% 90%
93% 72% 18-24 70% 94%
90% 78% 25-34 68% 94%
86% 79% 35-54 68% 92%
81% 80% 55+ 67% 90%
Percentage of people that know of the player
Of those that know of the player, percetnage of people that also like the player

Globally, the 18-24 age group are the most aware of both players, with 94% knowing of Ronaldo
and 93% knowing of Messi.

However, whilst more people in this age group know of Ronaldo, Messi enjoys a bigger proportion
of his fans within this group (72%) saying they like the player.

Although they represent the smallest percentage of people to know of Messi, of the over 55’s globally
that do know of the Argentine forward (81%), 80% say they like him, which demonstrates the highest
proportion of any age group amongst both players.

Source: *Global scores are a composition of all 15 markets (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia,
Spain, Turkey, UK and the US) representing the views of over 1.6bn worldwide. 500 respondents are tested in each market, 1000 respondents in the US.
Respondents are aged between 13-69. Celebrity DBI contains over 7000 tested personalities in total.

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