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Argentina’s Fifa World Cup final win over France was broadcast free-to-air (FTA) via BeIN Sports’ YouTube channel in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
As part of its deal to air Qatar 2022 in the region, the state-owned network also had to make the final one of the 22 matches it showed on BeIN Sports’ free-to-air (FTA) linear channel.
Speaking ahead of the game, BeIN MENA chief executive Mohammed Al-Subaie said the World Cup final would be a “historic occasion for football, for the Arab World, and for BeIN” and that the decision to stream the game on YouTube was part of making it “available to as many people who want to watch it as possible”.
BeIN also revealed that its coverage of the tournament had accumulated more than five billion total views prior to the closing weekend. This was despite the media giant’s TOD.tv streaming platform being blocked in Saudi Arabia – a key local market – earlier in the tournament.
Overall, the World Cup appears to have been a positive for BeIN, with its French business adding 500,000 subscribers during the tournament, bringing its total up 2.7 million and surpassing the 400,000 subscribers the media company acquired during the Russia 2018 World Cup.
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