Kazakhstan's NOC Tops Social Media Engagement at 2026 Olympics

The National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan has shown outstanding results on social media following the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, ranking first in average engagement per Instagram post, reports infohub.kz.

According to an IRIS Sport study conducted as part of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) Social Media Dashboard, a single post by the Kazakh NOC on Instagram averaged 24,583 interactions—the highest among all ranked participants.

In terms of engagement rate, the Kazakh committee ranked fourth with 118.9 percent. The average engagement across all platforms studied was 1.26 thousand interactions per post.

During the Olympics, the combined audience of Kazakhstan's channels included in the study reached 7.78 million followers, an increase of 112 thousand users. Content garnered 9.25 million interactions, and videos accumulated 34.1 million views.

Kazakhstan was not among the leaders in the number of published materials. The most active content creators were the Olympic teams of the USA, Italy, Japan, Great Britain, and France.

IRIS Sport noted that during the Games, the most engaging posts were those directly about athletes: their emotions, victories, and medals, preparation for starts, personal stories, and events outside competitions.

Gulnaz Shukenova, Director of PR and Marketing at the NOC of Kazakhstan, noted that the national committee has shown high engagement for the second consecutive Olympics.

"It is especially important for us that we have shown a high level of engagement for the second Olympics in a row. At the Summer Games in Paris, the NOC of Kazakhstan ranked second in this indicator, and following the 2026 Olympics, we have risen to first place. This speaks to systematic work and, most importantly, the enormous interest of Kazakhs in our team," said Shukenova.

According to her, fan activity played a significant role in the result, as they followed the performances of Kazakh athletes, commented, and shared posts.

Furthermore, the NOC of Kazakhstan's approach to social media received special recognition within the ANOC Digital Accelerator Programme. Kazakhstan was one of two national Olympic committees selected by IRIS Sport for a separate case study on effective social media use during the 2026 Olympics.