beIN SPORTS Sees Extraordinary Increase in Instagram Growth as it Leverages IGTV Presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
beIN SPORTS MENA witnessed a 825% increase in IGTV uploads and a 480% increase in comments on IGTV videos
beIN SPORTS, the global sports broadcaster, has seen an extraordinary increase in social media growth as it leverages IGTV to grow its Instagram presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). beIN SPORTS is the flagship sports network of beIN MEDIA GROUP, the global sports, entertainment, and media platform.
Beginning in January 2020, beIN SPORTS MENA decided to increase its social presence extensively with a focus on IGTV specifically and Instagram as a whole, due to the platform’s popularity in the region.
As a global broadcaster with an unrivalled array of live sport and major international events being broadcast around the clock in MENA – beIN SPORTS’ main focus on IGTV included:
- Focus on original documentaries, interviews, and reports that are 3+ mins in length
- Careful consideration of thumbnail images, hashtags, and creative video titles to boost engagement
During the COVID-19 outbreak when live sport was put on hold – beIN further increased its output on social media through exclusive interviews, video reports, and behind the scenes content to engage followers.
Original IGTV content to engage with followers and fans emerged as the beIN SPORTS team creatively launched hashtags such as: #beFIT, #beINFORMED, #beINTERACT and #beINStayAtHome – keeping followers up to date with sports related content and staying healthy while at home.
CrowdTangle, a leading content discovery and social monitoring platform compared data between April 18 – June 19, 2020 and February 14 – April 17, 2020. As per their findings, beIN SPORTS’ IGTV uploads saw an incredible increase of 825% during April – June 2020 timeframe, alongside, a 480% increase in comments on IGTV videos and a 230% increase in 1-min IGTV views.
Exclusive interviews on beIN SPORTS conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic included English Premier League winner Mohammad Salah, football legend Arsene Wenger, former Dutch footballer Ruud Gullit and Egyptian legend and beIN SPORTS analyst Mohammad Aboutrika among others.
As live sports has now returned, beIN SPORTS continues to maintain its push to showcase even more exclusive content on social media. Its Instagram account @beINSPORTS shares daily updates and shows with content tailored for fans across all ages in the MENA region.
Speaking on beIN’s Instagram growth in MENA, Manager of Digital Projects at beIN MENA Faisal Al-Raisi said: “We are extremely proud to see these impressive numbers on IGTV and across all our social media platforms. After a challenging few months in the world of sport, we are delighted to see that we played a major role in inspiring millions of our followers and fans across the MENA region. beIN will continue to grow and aim to inspire people from across the globe.”
Anna Chanduvi, EMEA Sports Media Partnership Lead for Facebook, said: “beIN SPORTS’ impressive performance on IGTV has helped it dominate in viewership across the MENA region. At a time when live sport was put on hold due to the pandemic, beIN SPORTS doubled down on content production, and used their creative storytelling approach to bring fans and communities together. We are excited to continue our work with beIN SPORTS to build on this tremendous success.”
Follow beIN SPORTS on Instagram @beIN SPORTS or on Twitter in Arabic @beINSPORTS or English @beINSPORTS_EN.
To subscribe to beIN SPORTS and enjoy an unrivalled array of live sport, please visit https://www.bein.com/en/subscribe/