The International Canoe Federation enjoyed its best-ever digital performance for a single event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Canoe Sprint and Canoe Slalom events, including the debut of kayak cross at the Vaires-sur Marne Nautical Stadium, saw unprecedented numbers across ICF's digital platforms.
While the best athletes in the world broke records in the six slalom events and 10 sprint races from July 27 to August 10, ICF's digital channels recorded jaw-dropping figures away from the water.
Compared to Tokyo 2020, there was a whopping 52,429% increase in video views.
Fans and enthusiasts across the globe contributed to 164.7 million views during the Games in France.
Among them, Instagram views topped the charts with 93.4 million, followed by YouTube with 38 million. For the former, the increase was a huge 215,117%.
There was a surge of 2,892% in engagement compared to the previous Olympic Games.
The total engagements in Paris came up to 14.6 million — Instagram led the way with 1.9 million, followed by YouTube and TikTok with 433.3K and 193.7K, respectively.
The ICF's carefully crafted content plan and a clear strategy, which included archives, behind-the-scenes and more, were key in the numbers skyrocketing at Paris 2024.
The goal was to drive engagement from new and existing audiences, making the most of the increased exposure the Olympic Games provide.
Edutainment content in the form of Instagram reels, for example, was among the many ideas pivotal to success.
“We are thrilled with the results,” Stuart Roach, Global Director of Growth and Communications, said.
“There is no better event than an Olympic Games at which to showcase the best of what your sport has to offer – and the same goes for social media content.
“The world fell in love with kayak cross, but to see a whole new audience engage with all of our content across sprint and slalom disciplines was wonderful.
“Our mission was to educate and inform, as well as entertain, our audiences and to see educational content go viral was a huge thrill.”
With the new season starting soon, including the highly anticipated Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, Italy in August and the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Penrith, Australia in October, ICF hopes to add to the digital momentum.
