As FIFA’s estimated $4.3 billion in media rights revenues for the World Cup suggests, sports broadcasting is an expensive game, and only getting more expensive with each tournament; the 2026 figure is around $1 billion higher than in 2022. But even without access to live games, publishers managed to find creative ways to drive engagement around their World Cup content.
Daily Mail Sport, the UK publisher’s sports brand, looked to produce original, creator-led video series for its social media channels, predominantly on TikTok. The publisher generated more than one billion video views across its platforms during the tournament, with original video content contributing more than 625 million views – up from 365 million during the Euro 2024 championship.
“Obviously we don’t have rights access, and we’re not a key sponsor, and I think that was a challenge for all publishers,” Hannah Blake, MD of New Media at Mail Metro Media, tells VideoWeek. “But I think we’re beginning to see that it’s less of a problem. If you look at every content creator out there, not many people have got that access. But your ability to be able to create something really engaging on the fringes of what’s going on, and really tapping into culture and fandom, allows you to create a massive impact, without having the levels of access that you think you might need.”
Video tactics
Daily Mail Sport’s video strategy involved a mix of formats that were either created especially for the tournament or covered by the news brand’s existing shows. These included ‘World Cup Daily’ presented by Henry Williams, a studio format incorporating highlights from the World Cup; and ‘Inside England’, with chief football reporter Craig Hope stationed at the England team’s training camp. The publisher also adapted its always-on format ‘How the World Watches’ for the World Cup, with Charlotte Daley providing fan coverage from on the ground at the tournament.
The strategy marks a change of pace for the Mail, which launched on TikTok in 2020, followed by the Daily Mail Sport channel in 2023. “When we first launched on TikTok, it was kind of a race to tell the story first,” comments Blake. “Who can get it out fastest, and who can get to 20 million views the quickest? That’s fine, but you’re telling the news; you’re not creating culture or creating the news. And because everybody is sharing that piece of content, it’s not unique to you, and there’s no personal relationship between the audience watching that on your page versus somebody else’s.”
The flipside is that original video formats might not get as many views as breaking news, but Blake argues that those fewer views have higher value, and favours metrics such as volume of returning viewers and average watch time. “Some of our channels are getting really high average watch times of 40, 50 seconds – and on a platform where people have only got three seconds of attention, that’s actually a really long time,” says Blake.
She adds that this type of video is also easier to monetise than clipped-up news content that is not owned by the publisher and therefore cannot be adapted. But original formats give Mail Metro Media the ability to create bespoke campaigns for advertisers, integrate brands into shows, or run creator campaigns.
And rather than partnering with creators on an ad hoc basis, the Mail has hired content creators who were “on the precipice of having a bigger audience.” This approach is mutually beneficial, according to Blake, since the publisher retains their expertise on a full-time basis, while enabling the creator to grow their audience using the publisher’s scale and production credentials.
Out of position
The World Cup proved a valuable testing ground for the new strategy, and Mail Metro Media intends to evolve the proposition based on the performance of its content during this summer’s tournament. The publisher’s potential plans include co-creating specific shows with high-profile creators, expanding into longer-form content, and extending distribution onto different platforms.
“I think there’s a little bit of a realisation perhaps with some publishers that we were a bit late to the party,” notes Blake. “This shift to social has been going on for a long time and we’ve got to catch up, although I’d say actually the Mail were very forward thinking on it.”
Blake previously managed the Mail-owned social-first fashion and beauty brand Eliza, and recalls the challenges in selling a creator-led brand to advertisers back in 2022. But the perception of the creator space is changing, and Blake says the Mail has found a “sweet spot” between the growth benefits of creator-led content, within the trusted environment of a news publisher.
“Of course most people believe the value of the Daily Mail sits in its print and online products, and perhaps they think of other people in the social publisher camp,” adds Blake. “So for us it’s a transformation piece; we have to tell our advertisers, you may know us for X and Y, but actually where we’re creating true value is in these different off-platform areas. But I think everybody is so aware of where the attention and the value is now that there’s definitely less of a barrier to showing how valuable this content is.”
But as the social video space has become more established, and the barrier to entry has lowered for creators covering events such as the World Cup, this also means the Mail is no longer just competing with other news publishers.
“Our competitor is anybody with a phone,” says Blake. “We’re incredibly proud as a business that, in the world of new media and social, we have moved away from the publisher competitor set. So when we get briefed, we get briefed alongside social agencies, other social publishers and influencers. That does then mean the competitor set is broad and people pop up all the time. But we have that layer of trust that often is lacking from individuals.”
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