How Padel Brands Generated 566M Views from Organic Socials from June 2021 to May 2022

Key Takeaways

Padel brands generated 566M views on Organic Socials from June 2021 to May 2022. Here’s how:

Channel Identification

• The highest followings for Padel are seen on Instagram (1.1M), followed by YouTube (749K) and TikTok (609K).
• Competitors generate brand awareness over engagement with 61x more views to engagements on posts.
• Instagram and YouTube saw the highest posting cadences of 5.6K and 3.4K respectively from June ‘21-May ‘22.

Reach vs Engagement

• Viewers engaging with Padel-focused entities are showing the most engagement on Instagram and TikTok.
• Padel content that is finding the most reach is on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
• Posting cadence is increasing on all platforms except YouTube with -35% less posts from June ‘21-May ‘22.

Platform Success

• Videos generate the highest average views and engagements on Instagram but make up 17% of post types.
• YouTube sees the highest views and engagement with videos over 4 hours in length (live stream tournaments).
• Competitors made only 185 posts on TikTok but generated +74% average views per post than other platforms.
• Facebook tends to be repost heavy with the same top performing videos as other platforms.

Good to Know…

• Padel court rental app Playtomic launched a unique campaign by producing a Global Padel Report that highlights how Padel Tennis is the fastest growing racket sport in history.

‍

The following companies were included in the competitive set for this analysis:

‍

As of May 2022, the competitive set has seen the highest following on Instagram (1.1M), followed by YouTube (749K) and TikTok (609K).

‍

World Padel Tour has the most accumulated followers with a 7x higher following than the average Padel social entity*. Padel accounts tend to see the highest share of followers on Instagram (34%), YouTube (24%) and Facebook (20%).

‍

From June 2021 to May 2022, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have generated the largest amount of views for the competitive set at 174M, 171M and 155M respectively.

‍

Competitors in the Padel industry generated an average of 61x more views to engagements on posts. Instagram and TikTok have the most engagement with only 6x and 14x more views to engagements respectively.

‍

Instagram (5.6K) and YouTube (3.4K) saw the highest posting cadence, indicating that the competitive set is focusing on these platforms the most. Twitter is inflated due to World Padel Tour publishing 7.4K posts. On average, without WPT, the competitive set publishing about 76 posts in the year.

‍

Instagram has seen the highest volume of average monthly posts (77) followed by YouTube (57) and Facebook (51) with TikTok sharing the least amount of monthly posts at 3.

‍

As of May 2022, the Padel industry’s organic social media presence sees the most posts and engagements on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook..

Competitor Focus. Competitors are most active and posting frequently to Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Twitter has seen 7.7K posts yet Twitter views are -78% lower than average video views across competitors.

Viewer Engagement. Viewers engaging with Padel-focused entities are showing the most engagement on Instagram and TikTok while finding the most reach on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Competitors only made 185 posts on TikTok but generated +74% more average views per post than all other platforms.

‍

Instagram

Instagram sees an average of 77 posts per month. Competitors are increasing their posting cadence on this platform with +34% more posts in the second half of the year, from 65 posts a month to 88.

‍

Videos that are 1-15 seconds in length have generated the highest number of average views and engagements (219K) in the competitive set on Instagram. Videos in the 2-3 minute (120-180 secs) range generated the least amount of average views and engagements (35K).

‍

On Instagram, competitors generated the most average engagement from video posts (4.7K), yet this format only makes up 17% of all posts. Images generated the least amount of average engagement per post at 2.1K, however competitors are focusing the most on Images at 37% of total posts.

‍

Amongst the competitive set, from the top videos across content categories on Instagram, the following videos stand out. Other than Adidas Padel product videos, the Instagram videos shared tend to leverage trending sounds and short video lengths of 1-15 seconds.

Single Moments. Single Moment videos tend to focus on ‘hard stop’ plays from athletes when they receive a return and quickly win the point.

24M Views

‍

Slow Motion Plays. Slow Motion Plays leverage key moments for athletes when they go above and beyond in a slow motion replay.

4.6M Views

‍

Duo Plays. Duo Plays focus on longer rallies between 2v2 opponents on the court. These tend to be action-packed with unpredictable plays from athletes.

1M Views

‍

Athlete Product Promo. Adidas Padel’s Instagram content about products are always backed by top Padel players. These are editorially produced and feature top athletes such as Martita Ortega.

217K Views

YouTube

YouTube sees an average of 57 posts per month. Competitors are decreasing their posting cadence on this platform with -35% less posts in the second half of the year, from 69 posts a month to 45.

‍

Videos over 4 hours (240 mins) in length have generated the highest number of average views and engagements (142K) in the competitive set on YouTube. Videos in the 30 minute to 2 hour range (30-120 mins) generated the least amount of average views and engagements (5K).

‍

From June 2021 to May 2022, Live Streamed Tournament videos have seen the most success generating +146% more average views and engagements than other content on YouTube. Oher YouTube Padel videos tend to be low quality and filmed with less stability and clarity.

Live Tournament. This top video in Live Stream Tournaments is 9 hours in length. It features a variety of games with advertiser messages and interviews in between games.

1.2M Views

‍

Unique Shots. Short videos that show a quick clip of an athlete playing around on the court with unique and unpredictable shots.

298K Views

‍

Up & Coming Talent. As the popularity of Padel rises, coaches and parents are sharing videos of their children learning to play and their athletic abilities.

290K Views

‍

Duo Plays. 2v2 action footage continues to be a popular form of content on YouTube. Often shared as shorter clips, these videos are harder to see than standard tournament footage but generally feature a lot of action in a short clip.

285K Views

‍

TikTok

TikTok sees an average of 3 posts per month. Competitors are increasing their posting cadence on this platform with +433% more posts in the second half of the year, from 1 post a month to 5.

‍

Videos over 30-40 seconds in length have generated the highest number of average views and engagements (559K) in the competitive set on TikTok. Videos 50-60 seconds in length have generated the least amount of average views and engagements (238).

‍

The following 4 top performing content categories from TikTok generated an average of 2.5M views and engagements. Competitors are more keen to share user generated content on TikTok than other platforms, in addition to key moments from tournaments.

Duo Plays. The longer the rally the better with 2v2 content on TikTok. Viewers are interested in equal levels of talent forcing competitors to work hard to earn the point.

9.4M Views

‍

Slow Motion Plays. Always optimized for TikTok, Slow Motion Plays leverage trending audios to create emotional replays of high impact moments from matches.

5.6M Views

‍

Padel Challenge. Padel Challenges engage viewers and players to attempt different prompts with their rackets away from the traditional game setting, like hitting specific targets on court.

3M Views

‍

Expectation vs Reality. Competitors sharing content that taps into up and coming players’ struggles with trying to land specific plays while learning and adapting to the game.

1.3M Views

‍

Facebook

Facebook sees an average of 51 posts per month. Competitors are increasing their posting cadence on this platform with +84% more posts in the second half of the year, from 36 posts a month to 66.

‍

Videos 6-8 minutes in length have generated the highest number of average views and engagements (62K) in the competitive set on Facebook. Videos over 12 minutes in length generated the least amount of average views and engagements (9K).

‍

On Facebook, competitors generated the most average engagement from video posts (214), making up 50% of all posts made. Link posts generated the least amount of average engagement (65) and are the least posted format at 9% of all posts.

‍

Facebook videos tend to have similar top performing content from reposts on other platforms. Most content is court-based except for Adidas Padel’s short profiles on athletes.

Duo Plays. Similar to other platforms, the more action the better with 2v2 video footage from the court. These tend to use natural sounds from the court opposed to adding audio on top.

3.4M Views

‍

Slow Motion Plays. This top performing video for Slow Motion Plays on Facebook is the same as on TikTok but optimized for the wide screen. The footage is high quality and easy to follow.

1M Views

‍

Single Moments. Single Moments focus on ways that athletes quickly shut down plays on the return. They are traditionally shorter videos posted in story format (9:16).

509K Views

‍

Moments with Athletes. Moments with Athletes depict short and sweet footage with players as they speak about the sport and their love for Padel. Videos always feature subtitles in English.

34K Views

‍

While not originally included as a competitor due to a smaller social media presence, the Padel court rental app, Playtomic, created a unique strategy to reach their B2B target audience, Padel court owners.

The Global Padel Report. Released in May 2022, Playtomic commissioned consulting company Deloitte to expose the financial potential of the sport through metrics such as court size and accessibility as well as it’s current online growth with players and sponsors. This landing page was created on a separate domain (playtomic.com instead of the D2C domain playtomic.io) and acts as a lead generation opportunity for prospects interested in learning more about the sport.

‍

The 115 page report is shared in Playtomic’s Instagram bio. The Playtomic.com domain hosting the report has generated +682% more website visits since launching in May 2022 compared to January 2022.