Juventus Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo Is The Highest-Earning Instagram Star

Cristiano Ronaldo has beaten fierce rival Lionel Messi and smashed other celebrities to be crowned the most lucrative Instagram star.

The Juventus superstar, 34, has an incredible 186m followers and secured a staggering £38.2m from posts made on the social media platform.

According to a Buzz Bingo study, Ronaldo had 49 sponsored Instagram posts and each one of them pocketed him £780,000.

Barcelona captain Messi fell well short of Ronaldo as he made a total of £18.7m and earned £518,000 per post.

Behind Messi and Ronaldo is Manchester United legend David Beckham, who made 30 sponsored posts and earned £8.6m.

Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar came fourth with £5.8m and Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic locked down fifth with £3.2m.

• Zlatan Ibrahimovic (20 sponsored posts): £160,000 per post; £3.2m total
• Neymar (10 sponsored posts): £578,000 per post; £5.8m total
• David Beckham (30 sponsored posts): £286,000 per post; £8.6m total
• Lionel Messi (36 sponsored posts): £518,000 per post; £18.7m total
• Cristiano Ronaldo (49 sponsored posts): £780,000 per post; £38.2m total

Ronaldo, Messi and Beckham all featured in the top ten Instagram stars with the highest number of sponsored posts.

Ex-United and Real Madrid star Ronaldo finished third behind Jackie Aina (50 advertised posts) and Tara Whiteman (73 advertised posts).

Meanwhile, Argentine superstar Messi came sixth and Beckham finished in ninth.

Ronaldo told SPORTbible in an exclusive interview that he plans to conquer the business world, despite still playing at the top level of football.

He explained: "I still love football. I love to entertain the fans and the people who love Cristiano. It doesn't matter the age, it's all about mentality.

"The last five years I start to enjoy this process of seeing me outside of football, so who knows what will happen in the next year or two?"

The Portugal captain has previously suggested that he could retire from football at the end of the season.

Featured Image Credit: Instagram

Topics: Football News, Football, David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

@AdnanRiaz9