93,000 tune in to watch FC Barcelona’s first YouTube live broadcast
Just over a week ago the social media superpower and footballing dynasty that is FC Barcelona launched their new training complex – La Masia. Barca’s La Masia is undoubtedly the key ingredient in a strategy that has produced some of the games greatest players and is widely acclaimed as the great youth system in world football. However, it wasn’t just the impressive construction that got people talking – to build awareness and launch the centre, the ever fantastic team at FC Barcelona decided to broadcast the whole ceremony on YouTube (alongside national TV, their website and their own Barca TV channel).
The YouTube event was broadcasted in Catalan, Spanish and English, and attracted an impressive 93,038 viewers – which is particularly important as this was the first time a Catalan broadcast has been global. Overall, an estimated 300,000 watched the event on various media channels. The consequent buzz around the event saw an average 122 tweets per minute on the #masiaFCB hashtag which will undoubtedly help promote Barcelona’s social media presence.
Yet again, Barca have shown their credentials as a social media innovator (as we discussed in last monthsexclusive interview with their social media team) – the first club to utilise YouTube for a major live press event. As more and more users are starting to integrate social media into their television habits, it will be inevitable that YouTube will quickly move from a video sharing platform to a live broadcasting channel. This is an interesting move for broadcasters as it now allows clubs to have more ownership and control – perhaps the next step could be live and exclusive broadcasts of player transfers or manager press conferences?
