The group phases of the EHF Champions League Men and EHF European League Men proved to be massive hits as handball’s top two club competitions recorded impressive digital engagement and broadcast figures.

In the EHF Champions League Men, the curtain came down on the group phase with its final matches on Thursday ahead of the play-offs with a reach of 130 million on digital platforms. New content distribution implemented this season for clubs and stakeholders saw 50 million impressions outside of the EHF-owned channels, including more than 20 million video views.

The engagement figures for both competitions were achieved thanks to the 16 competing clubs using Socialie, a platform which enabled them to receive and publish high-quality, tailor-made clips to their own social media channels.

The campaigns were driven by DAZN Group and Infront through its media and marketing partnership with the EHF and EHF Marketing to grow handball’s competitions worldwide.

On television, 29 broadcasters regularly screened EHF Champions League Men group phase matches. The average number of broadcasters per match was 15, with the most-covered match being the round 7 clash between THW Kiel and Barça, which was shown by 23 broadcasters.

In the EHF European League Men, 22 broadcasters showed group phase matches, and the most-covered matches both took place in round 8 when 13 broadcasters screened Montpellier against Magdeburg and Plock’s meeting with Leon.

More and more handball fans across the globe were also tuning in to watch the drama unfold on EHFTV, with almost 180,000 sign-ups registering on the OTT platform after its successful launch prior to the beginning of the season.

Miguel Mateo Marcellan, Media Operations Director EHF Marketing, said: “The latest numbers once again prove the popularity of our club competitions, and act as the perfect springboard as we enter the decisive phases of the competitions.”

The EHF Champions League Men play-offs throw-off with the first legs on 31 March and 1 April before the second legs take place a week later on 7-8 April, while in the EHF European League Men the Last 16 get under way with the first and second legs taking place on 23 and 30 April respectively.

Meanwhile, the DELO EHF Champions League play-offs start this weekend with the first of the matches in the play-offs taking place on Saturday.