BeIN Media Group, the international pay-TV broadcaster, generated viewership figures of more than 450 million for the recent Fifa Arab Cup men’s international teams soccer tournament.
The broadcaster held rights to the competition in 24 countries across the Middle East and North Africa and made matches available free-to-air on its BeIN Sports 1 and BeIN Sports 2 channels in the region. It also made it free on YouTube in 33 territories.
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The competition, held in Qatar where BeIN is based, saw an overall cumulative total of over 387 million views on linear channels, while the final between Algeria and Tunisia recorded the highest audience of 40 million views.
The final, which was won by Algeria, was followed by Tunisia vs Egypt in the semi-final with 37 million viewers and the other semi-final between Qatar and Algeria with 32 million viewers.
The six matches of the Egyptian national team were among the top 10 most-watched matches on BeIN Sports 1 and BeIN Sports 2.
Overall, the quarter-finals, semi-finals, third-place play-off, and the final had higher viewership than the group stage matches. The last-eight matches in the tournament recorded a total of 204 million cumulative views, while the 24 group stage matches drew 183 million.
Algeria enjoyed the highest average viewership per match with 23.7 million, followed by Egypt (22.2 million), Tunisia (17.7 million), Morocco (14.2 million), and Qatar (13.4 million).
BeIN also attracted a record audience for its coverage on YouTube with 79 million cumulative views for live streams.
The figures for the final set a record in Europe and MENA with 2.3 million concurrent viewers.
BeIN digitally aired the final in the MENA region in addition to France, Turkey, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Timor Leste, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines.
Mohammed Al-Bader, managing director of BeIN Channels, MENA, said: “We are pleased that our coverage of the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 has reached outstanding viewership in MENA. This achievement reflects the popularity of linear TV in MENA.”
The Arab Cup, competed by nations from the Asian Football Confederation and Confederation of African Football, took place under the Fifa banner for the first time.
The tournament, which was formerly known as the Arab Nations Cup and was previously played in 2012, was acting as a dry run for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which kicks off on 21 November next year in the Gulf country.
