How Trail Running Social Properties Generated 45M Video Views in 2021

Key Takeaways

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Overview of the digital trail running landscape from January 2021 to January 2022: 

Audience Demographics:

• Geolocation: Looking at the geolocation of the top trail running website visitors and the top mountain running social properties followers, the US has the largest running audience, followed by Spain and the UK. Other leading countries include Canada, France, Malaysia, and Australia. 
• Age & Gender: 54% of the web visitors to the top 10 trail running websites were male, and the majority of these visitors were 25 to 44 years old. Followers to the top trail running social properties are overwhelmingly male (88%) and predominantly 18 to 34 (69%). 

Platforms:

• YouTube generated the highest amount of trail running views, followed by TikTok (20%) and then Facebook (12%). Twitter makes up <1% of mountain running video views. Instagram has the largest audience of followers for the top 15 trail runners and generates the highest number of views. 

Top Athletes: 

• Kilian Jornet, Emelie Forsberg, and Scott Jurek have the largest audience on social. When looking at the average engagement per post, Kilian Jornet and Xander Budnick have the highest engagement rates. 

Content Opportunities: 

• YouTube: Top opportunities on YouTube include videos that share shoe reviews, training tips, run preps, and videos that answer common trail running questions. 
• Instagram: Top opportunities on Instagram include videos of post-run gratitude to all their supporters, announcing upcoming runs, posting scenic photos from their runs, and sharing glimpses of their personal life.
• Facebook: Top opportunities on Facebook include videos where athletes share their thoughts on life, training tips, and post about how they participate in community life.
• TikTok: Top opportunities on TikTok include videos with training tips, answering questions from comments, and footage of beautiful nature taken while training.

Based on web traffic, the following were the top ten trail running websites in March 2022. On average, these trail running resources generate 200K web visits per month.

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The United States accounted for 55% of traffic to the top ten trail running websites, followed by the United Kingdom (9%), Canada (4%), and Australia (3%).

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Males account for 54% of all top trail running website traffic. As for age, people between the ages of 25 and 44 accounted for 53% of the traffic.

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Top 10 trail running social properties by total views*

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Between Jan. ‘21 and Jan. ‘22 Greenweez MaXi-Race generated the most views with over 8.7M+ views, 8.4M coming from TikTok. 

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The United States accounted for 28% of the top ten trail running social properties followers, followed by Spain (14%), France (9%), and the UK (7%).

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The followers of the top 10 trail running social properties skew male (88%) and are predominantly aged 18 to 34 years old (69%). 

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YouTube generated the highest amount of trail running views, accounting for 67% of the total views from Mar. ‘21 to Mar. ‘22. TikTok generated the second highest (20%), followed by Facebook (12%). Twitter makes up 1% of mountain running video views. 

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Top 15 trail runners by Social Following and Average Engagement

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Xander Budnik and Vo2Max Productions have the largest audiences on YouTube with 412K and 215K subscribers, respectively. Emelie Forsberg, SCOTT JUREK, Jim Walmsley, Pau Cappel and Jamil Coury do not currently have YouTube channels.

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Kilian Jornet has significantly more followers on Instagram with 1.3M than the rest of the trail runners. All athletes are active on the Instagram platform. 

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Kilian Jornet has significantly more Facebook followers than the rest of the athletes — 880K as of April, 2022. Scott Jurek and Emelie Forsberg have 193K and 157K respectively. Xander Budnick, Ben Parkes, Jim Walmsley and Jamil Coury don’t have active Facebook profiles.

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Kilian Jornet is the only athlete with a significant following on TikTok with 10.5K followers. Vo2max Productions and Jamil Coury have slightly above 1K followers — 1.5K and 1K respectively. All other athletes have <1K followers or are not active on the platform. 

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Kilian Jornet, Emelie Forsberg and Scott Jurek are the most popular trail running content creators on social. While Kilian Jornet’s average engagement per post is significantly higher than any other ultra runner, Xander Budnick generated the second-highest engagement while having only the fourth highest following size.

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Instagram has the largest audience of followers for the Top 15 trail running athletes. Athletes generate social engagement proportional to their following — Instagram generated the most engagements, followed by Facebook and YouTube between Mar. ‘21 to Apr. ‘22.

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CONTENT OPPORTUNITIES: YOUTUBE

1. Shoe reviews - Athletes share their thoughts on the performance of running shoes.[Example 1, 2]

55K Views

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2. Training logs- Runners record their work out sharing some tips and best practices.[Example 1, 2]

8K Views

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3. Run preparations - Athletes capture days or hours prior to the run start.[Example 1, 2]

8K Views

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4. Answering frequent questions or responding to previous video comments or live audience questions.[Example 1, 2]

7K Views

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CONTENT OPPORTUNITIES: INSTAGRAM

1. Post-run gratitude - Athletes celebrating or acknowledging achievements and acknowledging their supporters.[Example 1, 2]

11.3% ER

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2. Teasers & trailers - Sharing feelings and excitement prior to big runs.[Example 1, 2]

6.1% ER

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3. Nature shots - Epic snaps of beautiful nature captured while racing or training. [Example 1, 2]

2.6% ER

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4. Personal life - Athletes share glimpses of their personal life. [Example 1, 2]

2.5% ER

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CONTENT OPPORTUNITIES: FACEBOOK

1. Personal philosophy - Athletes share their thoughts on life and training.[Example 1, 2]

0.7% ER

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2. Training - Athletes sharing tips about their trainings — from music recommendations to how to manage sport life and kids. [Example 1]

1.0% ER

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3. Community activism – Athletes share their involvement in community initiatives or speaking events. [Example 1]

0.6% ER

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4. Nature photography - Athletes perform extreme stunts or tricks, pushing the boundaries of the sport.[Example 1, 2]

1.7% ER

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CONTENT OPPORTUNITIES: TIKTOK

1. Answering questions - Athletes answers the most popular questions they get in comments.

4K Views

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2. Trail running tips - Short tips on more effective trail running, training or even eating habits.

3K Views

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3. Scenic runs - Videos of beautiful scenery taken during the training runs or competitions.

1K Views

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4. Bits from outdoor life - Funny bits of outdoor life.

2M Views