Viral TikTok clip helps handball reach Generation Z

• TikTok clip viewed 5.7 million times
• 74 % of TV Danish market share of under-18s for Denmark v Russia match
• 8,000 downloads of official mobile game

A clip of a handball sticking to the shirt of French player Alexandra Lacrabère has been viewed almost six million times on the EHF’s official TikTok channel to further highlight handball’s ever-growing expansion into younger audiences.

The viral clip, which lasts for just 13 seconds, has recorded 5.7 million views on the video-sharing social network as of today [17 December] since it was created and published on 8 December. It shows a handball attaching itself to France left back Lacrabère during the reigning world champions’ win over hosts Denmark. You can watch the clip here.

TikTok announced the milestone of 100 million users in Europe this year, while in 2019, according to a report by Reuters, 60 per cent of TikTok users in the United States are aged between 16 and 24 years old, emphasising the platform’s power of appealing to young audiences.

The success of the Lacrabère clip has helped generate a colossal 200 per cent increase in followership of the EHF EURO TikTok account, with an additional 25,000 followers recorded in less than a week.

Community growth on social media has also increased in general during the tournament, with over 16,000 new users following official EHF EURO Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts. Across those four channels, video views have already surpassed 4.6 million.

Download numbers of the EHF’s new mobile game also suggest a younger audience is engaging with handball in different, fresher ways. The game has been downloaded 8,000 times – doubling in number since the end of the preliminary round.

Listenership of the official EHF EURO podcast, produced by the (Un)Informed Handball Hour, also continues to rise, with 35,000 trackable downloads recorded since the beginning of the tournament.

EHF Secretary General Martin Hausleitner said: “To reach a target audience like this is an inspiration for the European Handball Federation.

“Reaching a global and new fanbase is something we are striving to achieve and this video, together with the successes of our digital output across social media, shows we are on the right track to realising this goal.”

Championship continues to dominate Danish TV

Traditional media coverage of the tournament is also attracting a young audience.

Numbers from Danish broadcaster TV2 show the younger generation’s interest in women’s handball in the country is on the rise, with the market share of those under the age of 18 an impressive 74 per cent for the hosts’ match against Russia.

Overall, the Danes’ achievement of reaching the semi-finals of the competition has also caught the imagination of the Danish population.

Over two-thirds (67.6%) of the Danish market tuned in to watch Jesper Jensen’s side win their crucial final game against Russia to book their place in the last four – a figure of 1.42 million. The market share of matches involving Denmark on TV2 has not dropped under 50 per cent in each for any of the Danes’ main round matches.

In Norway, a similarly strong market share (50.5%) watched the Norwegian team play Croatia, with 644,000 switching their televisions on for the main round match.

The excitement of the main round also saw 200,000 unique users watch action on EHFTV, which led to a total of 4.5 million page views since the tournament began, while over two million page views have been recorded on the official EHF EURO website.