BNP Paribas Nordic Open turns social: How a 50-year-old tournament became a must-follow.

Inside the new social strategy

To deliver on that idea, IngagerSports embedded a full production team on-site for the entire tournament. Content wasn’t something produced after the fact. It was created, edited, and posted in real time.

The strategy rested on three pillars.

High-volume, real-time storytelling

• The first shift was cadence. BNP Paribas Nordic Open dramatically increased its publishing pace across channels.

• The number of posts in the tournament’s channels increased by almost 300% versus 2024

• The number of Stories published rose by more than 250%

• Everything from walk-ons and warm-ups to crowd reactions, rituals, celebrations and quiet backstage moments became part of the story of “Stockholm tennis week.”

Native, platform-first formats

• Instead of repurposing TV footage, content was created directly for Instagram Reels, Stories, and TikTok – built for swipes, taps, and shares.

• Short-form video highlighted:

• Player personalities and small human moments

• Crowd energy and reactions

• Behind-the-scenes access that you wouldn’t see in a traditional broadcast

• The result: not just tennis clips, but a living, breathing tournament that felt as fast as the feeds it lived in.

A commercial layer that drove ticket sales

• Alongside the organic content engine during the event, IngagerSports also ran paid social activity ahead of the tournament to drive ticket sales.

• The same logic applied: creative that felt native to the platforms, not like traditional ads. The goal was simple – make BNP Paribas Nordic Open look like an experience you don’t want to miss.

Record results on and off the court

The numbers from 2025 tell the story. Compared with 2024, BNP Paribas Nordic Open’s social performance hit new highs:

• Social media views increased by around 450%

• Reach grew by more than 410%

• Organic views across Instagram and TikTok climbed to over 5 million during tournament week

In short: the event didn’t just sell out seats in the Royal Tennis Hall. It extended the experience to a much larger digital audience who followed every twist, reaction and celebration through their phones.

“BNP Paribas Nordic Open is an iconic tournament, and we wanted to highlight both the tennis and everything around it – the atmosphere, the crowd and the joy. That focus really came through,” says Jimmy Jakobsson.

“The collaboration with IngagerSports gave us a fantastic boost. We have reached wider than ever before and engaged a new audience in a way that really strengthens the BNP Paribas Nordic Open brand. Now we are looking forward to taking the next step and continuing to develop our work in social media in 2026,” says Rasmus Hult, CEO of BNP Paribas Nordic Open.

On court, Norway’s Casper Ruud took the title. Off court, the tournament built a new kind of momentum: not only a classic indoor event in Stockholm, but also a digital experience shared by millions.

A new phase for sport and digital engagement

What makes sport so powerful in this environment is that, unlike almost everything else in people’s feeds, it isn’t staged.

“Influencers, actors and musicians can build a completely digital presence, but sport is different,” says Jimmy Jakobsson. “The matches are played for real, the emotions are real, and the sport itself stays real. Sport stands for something you cannot stage. It is real, and that is exactly why it becomes more and more valuable in a time of artificial content.”

That authenticity strengthens trust in sport and makes it an increasingly attractive arena for brands that want to build relationships and credibility. But the media landscape around sport has changed:

• More platforms, more formats, more competition for attention

• A blurred line between live and digital experiences

• Fans who want to participate, influence, and share, not just watch

For tournaments, clubs, leagues, and brands, social media is no longer just a marketing channel. It’s part of the event itself – a place where the experience continues before, during, and after the match. Sport is becoming an increasingly important meeting place between fans, brands, and culture.

What marketers can learn from BNP Paribas Nordic Open’s digital breakout:

This isn’t just a tennis story. It’s a playbook. Here are some lessons marketers can take from the 2025 BNP Paribas Nordic Open:

• Turn events into experiences people can join, not just attend

• Don’t only show the main act. Show the build-up, the routines, the crowd, the backstage. That’s where people feel part of something.

• Volume matters – if quality and relevance keep up

• A 300% increase in posts and 250% more Stories worked because they delivered value in real time. High frequency without a clear idea just becomes noise.

• Design for the platform, not for your archive

• Create content specifically for Reels, Stories, and TikTok. Vertical, fast, human, easy to share. Don’t just cut down TV footage and hope it works.

• Use authenticity as your unfair advantage

• Sport is real. Emotions can’t be scripted. Lean into that instead of trying to polish everything. In a world of artificial content, genuine moments win.

• Blend organic storytelling with smart paid distribution

• IngagerSports didn’t separate “brand” from “performance.” The same social-first thinking drove both engagement and ticket sales.

• Think “follow” as much as “visit”

• Nordic Open became something people could follow all week, not just a match they once attended. Strong brands live in people’s feeds, not only on their calendars.

• Let your community extend the moment

• When fans share their own perspectives, the event continues outside the arena. Make it easy and natural for them to participate.

As the line between live and digital continues to blur, the winners will be those who treat social media not as a highlight reel, but as an integral part of the arena itself. The BNP Paribas Nordic Open 2025 demonstrated what happens when a legacy tournament adopts this shift: the court remains the same, but the audience grows significantly larger.