Beach handball reaches new media heights

Six days of sun, fun and some great beach handball came to an end on Sunday (14 July) when Hungary in the women's event and Croatia in the men's final claimed gold at the 2013 European Beach Handball Championship in Randers, Denmark.

The final tournament received broad coverage in particular in Denmark but also internationally with with several newspapers, TV stations and social media outlets reporting on the final tournament.

Danish national tabloid "Ekstra Bladet" with a readership of more than 200,000 on weekdays and 300,000 on the weekend, reported continuously on the championship, including a live stream from the event on their website which ranks among the most popular in Denmark.

Coverage also appeared also, for example, on the website of Danish leading newspaper, Politiken.

Danish TV channel, TV 3 Sport, covered all Danish matches live from the group phase onwards, before broadcasting all medal matches on the tournament's final day.

Viewership reached a peak when 107,000 viewers tuned in during the women's final between the Danish hosts and Hungary, resulting in an overall market share of 7 per cent.

Danish channel, TV 2, also reported on the opening as well as on the final day of the championship.

The European Handball Federation for the first time extensively covered the event on its social media channels and also sent a designated video team to Randers.

The EHF beach handball Facebook page, which was launched at the start of May 2013, reached more than 112,000 people from 8 and 14 July.

Videos uploaded on the new EHF beach handball YouTube channel also received several thousand hits.