French broadcaster M6 Group has secured a sub-licensing deal with BeIN, the country's pay-TV giant, to provide free-to-air coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final. This move comes after BeIN recorded impressive viewership numbers during the quarter-finals.
The showpiece final of AFCON scheduled for January 18 will be broadcast simultaneously on both BeIN’s pay-TV service and M6-owned linear channels. These channels could either be the titular M6 or entertainment-focused W9 network.
BeIN, which has held rights to AFCON since 2008, will retain exclusive coverage rights for tonight’s semi-finals – Senegal vs Egypt and Nigeria vs Morocco – as well as the January 17 third-place playoff. It is common practice for BeIN to sublicense out final coverage.
Potential viewership draw in France
Given France's significant African diaspora population, particularly from Morocco and Senegal (both former colonies/protectorates of France), this year's final is expected to attract a large number of viewers in France. This is especially true if these countries advance through the semi-finals.
In June 2025, M6 drew an audience of 8.7 million viewers when it aired Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in Europe’s elite UEFA Champions League final. While this figure cannot serve as a benchmark for the AFCON final due to differences in team composition (club team versus national teams), it does highlight the potential reach that can be achieved by airing high-profile games.
A more relevant comparison might be TF1’s free-to-air coverage of the 2019 AFCON final between Algeria and Senegal which attracted an audience share of 10.1%, equivalent to about 1.6 million viewers on TF1’s TMC channel.
BeIN's successful solo coverage of AFCON
BeIN’s solo coverage of the AFCON tournament has so far been successful, with the quarter-final ties helping to secure two of its best-ever viewership tallies for the tournament.
The match between Morocco and Cameroon on January 9 drew an average viewership of 641,000 on BeIN, peaking at 784,000 - a record high for a BeIN AFCON broadcast. The following day's game between Nigeria and Algeria also performed well with an average viewership of 480,000 and a peak of 708,000. This made it the second-most watched AFCON game since BeIN secured the rights.
This sublicensing deal between M6 and BeIN is set to bring one of Africa's most prestigious football tournaments closer to French sports fans while potentially setting new records in terms of viewership numbers.
