“TikTok is fast becoming a place where people can enjoy a new type of experience for the beautiful game, as more and more football organisations, teams and players jump on our platform to engage directly with fans. We were delighted to partner with UEFA EURO 2020, one of the world’s biggest sporting events, bringing the spirit and passion of this tournament to its fans on TikTok. Our community loves to celebrate sport in creative ways, and I can’t wait to see how they continue to engage with all the unmissable content on all things football.”
– Mo Harb, Head of Sports on TikTok MENA.
TikTok has become a vibrant hub of sports content in the last two years with football content kicking off on the platform. In the last year alone, the daily consumption of popular sports hashtags has quadrupled to 1.52 billion video views daily, with football (and soccer) content amassing over 185 billion video views in total to date, including some of the most popular footballers and football moments being watched, recreated and relived.
In fact, TikTok loves football so much that they became the official sponsors of EURO 2020! TikTok is the first digital entertainment platform to partner with the UEFA EURO, aiming to become a home for football fans to share their passion. As part of the partnership, UEFA EURO 2020 launched an official TikTok account prior to the tournament with the mission to inspire and entertain millions of football fans worldwide with exclusive behind-the-scenes content as well as current and archival footage; amassing 4.5 Million followers and garnering 57.1 Million likes.
And who could forget Ed Sheeran’s viral TikTok Live performance at the EURO 2020? The grammy award winner broke the record for the biggest ever LIVE music performance on TikTok with over 5.5 million unique viewers watching the show across the live stream on Friday 25 June and two replays on Saturday 26 June. The TikTok UEFA EURO 2020 show was staged at Portman Road, the home stadium of Ed’s beloved Ipswich Town football club, and streamed globally on his TikTok channel.
In the MENA region, the football fandom is no less impressive with the excitement surrounding UEFA EURO 2020 reaching new heights and with TikTok football fans ranking amongst the most engaged audiences in the world.
In fact, TikTok commissioned a study with Ipsos to understand the level of excitement around UEFA Euro 2020 among TikTok audiences, their favourite teams, their predictions and engagement levels on the TikTok platform during the round of 16. The study was conducted between 24th to 26th June 2021 in the UAE, KSA, Egypt and Turkey.
IPSOS discovered that TikTok audiences are likely to increase their overall interaction and engagement with the platform significantly when it comes to consuming football-related content:
- Followed and checked out the Euro 2020 page on TikTok more frequently (+37%)
- Look out for the content of qualified teams matches (+29%)
- Discovered and got inspired by Football content on TikTok (+26%)
- Followed football influencers (+23%)
- Created new football content (22%)
- Discovered deals & promotions (+21%)
- Purchased football merchandise (+20%)
After all, TikTok has become an environment that is so potently joyful and exciting; facilitating creators to express themselves in the most authentic way and allowing football fans to build a community that is actively creating, sharing and engaging with the most relevant content.
TikTok audiences will continue to actively watch, create and share #Football related content on the platform, including participating in interesting #Hashtag challenges – hence a clear opportunity for brands to engage with captive and engrossed audiences with the right kind of #Football content on TikTok.
