Posts mentioning the organisation drew 3.6m views

Netball

England Netball and IMG have revealed last summer’s Netball World Cup’s effect on the federation’s digital channels.

The pair’s report, which IMG worked on as it runs England Netball’s digital strategy, claims that posts mentioning the organisation reached 3.6 million views and followers of its social media channels grew by 10%. This growth was largely driven by Instagram and TikTok - with the latter channel only launched in July. 

The number of England Netball’s TikTok followers has now overtaken its number of YouTube subscribers and England Netball became the most followed national netball team on Instagram by the end of the tournament.

In addition to the organisation itself, England Netball’s players cumulatively gained +52K followers on Instagram, an 18% increase - with shooter Helen Housby leading the way with 194K+ Instagram followers.

Searches for ‘England Netball’ also increased, by 492%, from January, with a 32% increase of daily visitors to the website. This led to increased visits to England Netball’s ENgage participation hub, where readers were 269% higher during the World Cup than in the period leading up to the tournament - hitting a peak of 41K visits after the tournament finished on 14 August 2023. 

The 2023 Netball World Cup was shown free-to-air on the BBC in the UK, in addition to pay-TV coverage on Sky Sports. England Netball also recently agreed a deal with D2C platform provider Joymo to stream its competitions, which are below the Sky Sports-broadcasted Netball Super League in the pyramid, on englandnetball.tv.

Fran Connolly, chief executive of England Netball said: “The Vitality Roses inspired the nation with their on-court heroics in the summer and it’s a testament to the team that netball enjoyed such an incredible moment and record levels of visibility. As a result, more people than ever engaged and took notice of our sport and we are working really hard to capitalise on this success to move the dial, to improve opportunities for people to get on court and to take our sport to new heights.”

IMG’s SVP & managing director of digital, Lewis Wiltshire, said: “This has been a bumper summer of women’s sport. We’ve seen first-hand how the success of the England Roses and Lionesses on the world stage can be a catalyst for the growth of women’s sport in more ways than one. This report shows how organisations like England Netball can translate that success on court to sustainable commercial growth, channelling the power of fan engagement through its digital channels.”