Key takeaways
– Major events grow faster when short-form storytelling pushes them beyond broadcast and into global discovery.
– Diaspora audiences are powerful growth drivers when served with culturally relevant, digital-first content.
– AI-powered content creation lets rights holders scale short-form output across platforms, markets, and languages without adding operational complexity.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which kicked off on Sunday in Morocco, has already made history. Even before the opening match, AFCON 2025 set new records in the number of stadiums hosting matches, ticket sales, sponsorships, and revenue. And, most crucially for the tournament's global reach, it signed some historic media rights agreements.
First, French broadcaster Canal+ announced it will become the first broadcaster to air AFCON matches in multiple languages, including English, French, Portuguese, and different local African languages. Then, the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) accepted a bid from British free-to-air television Channel 4, marking the first time the tournament is available to watch for free in the UK.
For non-African rights holders, AFCON is a compelling proposition. The tournament regularly features stars from the world's best leagues, who can draw audiences outside of the continent. The 2025 edition will feature 32 Premier League players, headlined by Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah, around 50 players from Ligue 1, 21 Serie A players, 19 Bundesliga players, and 16 players from LaLiga.
The diaspora dividend
There's another reason the rights for AFCON 2025 have been purchased by more than 150 TV channels worldwide: the African diaspora. With more than 170 million people of African descent living abroad, the diaspora is recognized by the African Union as Africa’s “sixth region.” According to the World Bank, Africans abroad contribute an estimated $95 billion annually to the continent in remittances, and their financial strength and cultural influence are only growing.
That’s especially true in the UK and France. Approximately 3.5 million Africans reside in France, accounting for 48% of the country's immigrant population. In the UK, estimates put the African diaspora at 1.5 to 2 million, with more than 600,000 African-born immigrants living in London. In both cases, many of these immigrants maintain cultural and economic ties to their country of origin, making them the prime audience for AFCON matches.
Recognizing this, CAF launched a diaspora tour with promotional events in London and Paris ahead of AFCON 2025. The program included live music, cultural activations, honors to legendary African players who left their mark on European football, and a special appearance by the Africa Cup of Nations trophy. The message was loud and clear: AFCON is a shared heritage belonging to Africans everywhere.
Turning heritage into engagement
This powerful message is echoed through CAF's digital content strategy. After signing a sponsorship deal with TikTok ahead of AFCON 2021, CAF leaned into short-form video. By AFCON 2023, it was using short-form video to deliver broad, global coverage to fans on and beyond the continent. The results were impressive:
– During AFCON 2023, CAF's account on TikTok garnered over 8.8 million followers.
– 390,000 videos featuring #AFCON2023 and related hashtags were shared.
– These videos generated 3.6 billion views on TikTok alone, underscoring the tournament's popularity.
The focus on the African diaspora continued in the lead-up to AFCON 2025. In early December, CAF launched a video podcast titled “Diaspora Talks.” The podcast explores topics like African identity, the role of the African diaspora in the continent's football culture, and AFCON stories through panel discussions with players, ex-players, and football executives, with standout moments available on CAF's official social media channels.
Scaling hype with smart technology
Short-form storytelling has become a strategic tool for rights holders preparing global tentpole events.
AFCON 2025 shows how culturally-rooted, emotionally-resonant content can frame a tournament’s identity, activate audiences, and warm up casual viewers weeks before kickoff. For content teams, the takeaway is simple: celebrating heritage, players’ journeys, and shared culture creates relevance that traditional marketing alone can’t deliver.
Executing this strategy can be challenging, and creativity alone is not enough. AI-powered content creation platforms allow rights holders to instantly turn classic matches, video podcasts, and cultural moments into short-form assets, optimized for every channel.
That scalability lets content teams focus on narrative, not logistics. It ensures events like AFCON 2025 celebrate history and set the stage to make even more of it.
Actionable Insights:
– Plan short-form content around cultural moments, not just matches. Highlight player heritage, fan rituals, and identity-driven stories that travel globally.
– Design content specifically for discovery. Prioritize mobile-first formats and platforms where global communities already engage daily.
– Build a repeatable short-form workflow that turns every game, interview, and activation into platform-ready clips to maintain momentum between match days.
