The International Canoe Federation has topped the YouTube rankings after experiencing record-breaking growth, a new digital report has revealed.
The SportOnSocial International Federations Report 2025 has been published, revealing that the ICF climbed an incredible 33 places in 12 months to reach the summit of the YouTube standings.
Produced by marketing agency Redtorch, the annual report ranks the 43 Summer and Winter Olympic International Federations by their social media performance in 2024.
As well as YouTube, the ICF achieved strong gains on Facebook and Instagram, rising six spots in both, while TikTok rose by five places, and the organisation’s placing on X also improved.
This exceptional performance across all the ICF’s digital platforms saw the global governing body for paddle sports make the highest jump of all the 43 Summer and Winter Olympic IFs in 2024, moving up 12 places in the overall rankings to 23rd position.
To determine the rankings, analysts from the Redtorch Research and Performance Lab used a combination of third-party, desk research and propriety technology to analyse 319,900 social media posts across 348 primary, discipline-specific and World Championships pages activity managed by IFs.
The ICF swept to the top of the YouTube standings after increasing the number of subscribers to its Planet Canoe channel by 432 per cent (62,000 to 333,000) in 2024.
A huge uplift in bite-sized, high-frequency content with a focus on YouTube Shorts was key to the ICF’s rise in the rankings.
It posted the third highest number of Shorts of any IF while maintaining the exact average IF balance in 2024 with 26 per cent for Shorts and 74 per cent for traditional videos.
The ICF found that each content format served as a different purpose and used AI-driven insights to define common high-performing themes.
Targeting key markets such as the United States and India, ensuring athletes are put at the centre of its storytelling and integrating YouTube channel memberships were also essential to the ICF’s successful digital strategy in 2024.
The ICF sees a major opportunity for expanding the YouTube channel memberships offerings and invest in more interactive content.
It aims to continue to build deeper connections with its audience and strengthen long-term engagement with educational advice, behind-the-scenes exclusives, live Q&As and premium content for members.
Overall, the ICF has more than doubled its total number of followers across its digital channels to 587,000 in 12 months and in 2024 achieved a record 587.3 million video views – 40 times more than in 2022.
Last year also saw a 68 per cent increase in the number of posts across all the ICF’s platforms, rising to 7,900 in 2024, as engagements rose to 21.9 million – 16 times more than the previous year.
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ICF Vice President Lluis Rabaneda said: "It's a fantastic achievement to climb to first place in the YouTube rankings and to see tremendous growth across our social media platforms in the past year.
“We are focusing on YouTube as it’s the best platform to create long and short-form videos including educational and recreational content that connect with paddlers around the world.
"Our digital-first approach is key to our Fit for Future Evolution strategy as we continue to grow and engage our global paddle sports community.
"We are really excited about the boundless opportunities that the digital landscape presents for our sport as we look to further enhance our engagement with exciting new partners coming on board."
Chris Argyle-Robinson, Research and Strategy Director and Co-Founder of RedTorch, said: “The ICF’s rise to number one in the YouTube rankings – climbing 33 places – is the result of a remarkable high-volume, strategic content approach.
“A huge push on Shorts to generate mass engagement and pioneering YouTube channel memberships as a new revenue stream have set a new benchmark for growing IFs looking to cut through on YouTube.
“Competing with some of the largest International Federations, the ICF made YouTube its number one priority and proved its strategy was spot on – growing its audience by an incredible 432 per cent - the highest of any International Federation in 2024.”
@planetcanoe Yes it is that simple ✨ #canoe #slalom #howto #icf #roadtoparis ♬ original sound - Johnny Sibilly
Adam Collins, Global Lead: Digital Platforms and Social Content at the ICF, said: "In 2024, we transformed the ICF’s YouTube strategy, generating record-breaking digital revenue through memberships while driving demand for premium content.
“We reinvested revenue into social media tools, scaling our short-form content creation by over eight times since 2022.
“AI played a crucial role in shaping our strategy, helping us diversify themes to include nature, humour, and workouts, and tailoring content for key markets like the US and India.
“By embracing all content formats, with a sharp focus on Shorts, we maximised engagement and grew our audience like never before.”
The full SportOnSocial report can be found here.
