beIN SPORTS has followed up its highly successful FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ podcast with a further two sports-focused audio shows – and despite its latest offering only launching two weeks ago, both new shows are ranked No.1 in the football category across a host of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets.
From the Heart of the World Cup represented beIN’s first foray into podcasting, launched during the FIFA mega-event that took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December. beIN published a total of 13 episodes during the tournament, with the Arabic-language show ranking No.1 on Apple Podcasts in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Mauritania, and Saudi Arabia.
Such was the success, beIN launched its second podcast in January this year. Legends is a weekly, 30-minute show diving into the rich history of elite athletes who have left their mark on their chosen sport. Primarily focused on football, subjects so far include Pele, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, and Just Fontaine, among others. Episode six explored the life and career of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, while the most recent episode – published this past Monday – looked at Luis Figo, the Portuguese midfielder who played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid.
With 12 episodes published so far, Legends is ranked No.1 in the football category of Apple Podcasts in eight countries: Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, Tunisia, and the UAE, as well as holding the No.1 position in the general Sports category in Oman, Qatar, and Tunisia. In Yemen and Bahrain, “Legends” is respectively the second-most and fourth-most downloaded football podcast, while it ranks No.12 in Russia.
Noting the high demand for their engaging podcasts, beIN launched a third audio offering on 27 March. The twice-weekly Podcast with Ayman Jada is an open space for the renowned beIN SPORTS presenter to discuss and debate all the hot topics surrounding global football, from specific matches, to teams, new rules, competitions, and crises in certain leagues. The most recent episode, published on 11 April, featuring Haytham Farouk and Tareq Al-Jalahma, explored the current situation of Liverpool FC and their Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah. Other beIN talent that make guest appearances include Wael Gomaa, Tarek Dhiab, Mubarak Mostafa and Abdulaziz Al-Sulaiti.
Podcast with Ayman Jada is currently the most-downloaded football show on Apple Podcasts in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi, Tunisia, and the UAE, as well as ranking No.5 in Malaysia, No.9 in the Netherlands, No.16 in Sweden, and No.17 in France.
Faisal Mahmoud Al-Raisi, Director of Digital, beIN MENA, said: “beIN SPORTS has long provided high-quality, award-winning visual content to our customers, yet it was somewhat of a new experience entering the world of podcast publishing last November. The reception those first World Cup™ shows received was fantastic and has ultimately led us to launch these two new shows. There is clearly a huge demand for insightful sports opinion and localised football analysis, delivered in podcast format in the Arabic language. We are excited to roll out a host of podcasts in the near future.”
All 30-minute episodes of Legends and Podcast with Ayman Jada, as well as the 13 episodes of From the Heart of the World Cup™ can be downloaded for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
