BeIN Sports’ main focus on IGTV included original documentaries, interviews, and reports of more than three minutes in length.
BeIN Sports saw an 825% increase in IGTV uploads during the April-June timeframe while growing its Instagram presence in the MENA region, according to content discovery platform CrowdTangle.
The channel also saw a 480% increase in comments on IGTV videos and a 230% increase in one-min IGTV views for the same time period. BeIN Sports is the flagship sports network of beIN Media Group.
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.
BeIN Sports’ main focus on IGTV included original documentaries, interviews, and reports of more than three minutes in length and careful consideration of thumbnail images, hashtags, and creative video titles to boost engagement.
During the peak of Covid-19 outbreak when the live sports was put on hold – beIN also increased its output on social media through exclusive interviews, video reports, and behind-the-scenes content to engage followers.
Some of the hashtags launched included #beFIT, #beINFORMED, #beINTERACT and #beINStayAtHome.
Exclusive interviews 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.
Commenting 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 few challenging months, 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 the live sports 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.”
