Ronaldo vs Messi: Who earns more on Instagram?
The two legendary footballers were joined in the top five by celebrity Kendal Jenner, former Manchester United midfielder David Beckham and PSG superstar Neymar.
Cristiano Ronaldo earned £38.2 million from Instagram posts last year to become the highest-paid celebrity on the social media platform.
His earnings on everyone's favorite picture-sharing network surpassed Lionel Messi's as the Barcelona ace only managed to earn £18.7m from his posts.
The Portuguese's earnings on Instagram are so staggering that Ronaldo alone earns more from his sponsored posts (£38.1m) than the next two names on the list combined (£36.9m). In the Buzz Bingo study, a celebrity's annual income was calculated by dividing the number of celebrity posts by their subsequent earnings on Instagram.
It emerged that in the last 12 months on Instagram, Ronaldo made 34 sponsored posts and was paid £780,000 for each one.
Whenever Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are mentioned together or separately, soccer fans around the world take notice.
This is why even something as meaningless as a friendly match between two soccer stars is a big deal.
The 35-year-old World Cup winner and the 37-year-old Portuguese star will face off in a friendly between their clubs on Thursday 19 January; French team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr-Al Hilal put together an XI, called the Riyadh All-Star XI.
Thursday's friendly will be the first time Messi and Ronaldo have met since December 2020, when Ronaldo was on the winning side as Juventus beat Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League.
But as their fans would have you believe, football stars are ALWAYS going against each other - even without their knowledge. That's why a website called Net Credit conducted a survey of the richest Instagram influencers in the world, revealing roughly how much these two footballers earn from their sponsored posts.
Messi and Ronaldo have faced each other on the football field for more than a decade. From the number of career goals they've scored to the number of trophies they hold - including the prestigious Ballon d'Or, which Messi dominates - these two athletes are in constant rivalry.
While the debate about who is the greatest G.O.A.T of all time (of all time) between these two stars is ongoing, there is no debate about who earns more on Instagram.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's top earner on Instagram, earning a whopping $85.22m (R1.6bn) from sponsored posts in 2021, Net Credit has revealed.
Lionel Messi
Messi, meanwhile, made two more contributions than Ronaldo, but ended up earning half the amount. The 31-year-old made 36 sponsored Instagram posts but earned £780,000 for each one.
Argentina's ex-Barcelona team-mate Neymar took home 5.8m from Instagram last year, earning £578,000 per sponsored post.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is another currently playing footballer in the top ten, with the former Manchester United player raking in £160,000 for his contribution and £3.2m overall. According to the annual ranking published by Forbes magazine, the Argentine earned more money than Ronaldo. in 2019.
After earning $92 million in salary and winnings last year — and another $35 million in sponsorships and endorsements — Messi will take home $127 million in 2019.
Ronaldo, despite earning more money from endorsements than Messi, took home less money as the Argentine's $92 million salary was $27 million more than what Juventus paid the Portuguese last year.
Brazilian ace Neymar is aiming to enter the Ronaldo vs Messi rivalry, at least for financial reasons. The 26-year-old earned $105 million from all sources last year, just $4 million behind Cristiano Ronaldo's total earnings.
Lionel Messi is in second place with a whopping $71.96m (R1.3bn).
To uncover the world's top earners on Instagram, the site first compiled a list of the most followed Instagram stars from all countries.
As a result, Net Credit used data from Instagram's rich list to estimate the advertising fee for each country's most followed stars. They then tallied each star's number of sponsored posts in 2021 and multiplied that by their known or estimated advertising fee.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed person on Instagram as he has 536 million followers to date. While Lionel Messi is in second place with 421 million followers.
When the list was created, Messi was the third most followed person on Instagram, with around 5 million followers behind reality TV star and entrepreneur Kylie Jenner, who was in second place. However, Argintine's viewership has increased significantly since the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
