Meta says 2026 World Cup drove record engagement across its family of apps

MUMBAI: Meta kicked off a tournament of its own, and the numbers suggest it scored heavily. The technology giant said the 2026 FIFA World Cup generated record-breaking engagement across its family of apps, with WhatsApp setting a new messaging record, Instagram adding hundreds of millions of followers for footballers, and conversations surging across Threads and Facebook.

According to Meta, the month-long tournament became one of the biggest moments in the company’s history, reflecting how major sporting events increasingly drive digital conversations alongside live broadcasts.

The biggest milestone came on WhatsApp, which recorded more than 29 million messages per second during the Round of 16 clash between Argentina and Egypt, setting a new all-time platform record and surpassing the previous high established during the 2022 World Cup final.

On Instagram, the tournament translated into substantial audience growth for players. Between 11 June and 11 July, members of the final tournament squads collectively gained 213.6 million activated followers, taking their combined audience from 3.26 billion to 3.47 billion, a rise of 6.6 per cent.

The tournament’s biggest breakout star on the platform was Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha, whose following soared from 37,000 before the competition to 28.8 million, representing an increase of nearly 77,000 per cent. His rapid rise also helped Cape Verde register the largest squad-wide audience growth, adding 32.1 million followers, equivalent to a 2,000 per cent increase.

Among established stars, Erling Haaland led follower growth with 23 million new followers, while Cristiano Ronaldo, already the world’s most-followed Instagram user, added another 10 million, taking his audience to a record 676 million.

Meta also highlighted the most popular footballers among US users through Instagram’s Your Algorithm feature. The top five were Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham.

The platform also saw significant growth for emerging players. Endrick added 5.2 million followers, Jude Bellingham gained 4.2 million, Michael Olise attracted 4 million, Lamine Yamal added 3 million, while Vinícius Júnior grew his audience by 2.8 million.

At the country level, Mexico posted the strongest percentage growth, with player followings rising 78 per cent, driven by emerging talents Gilberto Mora and Julián Quiñones. Japan followed with a 42 per cent increase, led by Keito Nakamura.

Beyond Instagram, Threads generated 1.5 billion impressions on World Cup-related posts during the tournament. Football content reached an average of 15 million users daily, peaking at 25 million on 6 July.

Meanwhile, Facebook remained a major destination for fan conversations, with users publishing more than 80 million posts mentioning the tournament since it began.

Summing up the tournament’s impact, Meta said football fans increasingly turned to its platforms not only for live reactions but also for highlights, analysis, memes, behind-the-scenes content and community discussions.

“This summer we set out to make Meta the cultural epicentre of the beautiful game and thanks to our features and content the real winners were the fans. Our apps were the home of everything outside the live game. The highlights, the behind-the-scenes, the dressing room celebrations, the coaching analysis, the Vozinha phenomenon. While fans watch the 90 minutes on TV, they come to our apps for everything around it, the community, the conversation, the clips and memes they love to share and debate,” Meta Platforms global football lead Rob Pilgrim said.

As live sport continues to dominate online conversations, Meta’s latest figures underline how global tournaments have evolved beyond the pitch, becoming some of the largest engagement drivers across social media platforms.