LaLiga giants FC Barcelona has set a new digital landmark by becoming the first sports team in the world to gain over 10 million subscribers to its official channel on online video platform YouTube.
The National Basketball Association is the only sports channel that has more followers than FC Barcelona on YouTube, with 14.7 million.
To mark the achievement, the Google-owned YouTube will present the club with the Diamond Creator Award, a metal-plated trophy with a glass play button that is given to all channels that break the 10 million barrier.
Barça ended the 2018-19 season with a total of 7.2 million subscribers (2.6 million more than in 2017-18), and between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, that number rose to 9,782,472. Now, with the 2020-21 season about to begin, it has moved above 10 million.
The channel has also had more than 65 million hours of viewership. By countries, Barça has the most followers in the United States, Spain, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico.
By comparison, the next ranked soccer team is Real Madrid with 5.92 million followers, followed by Flamengo (5.55 million), Liverpool (4.98 million), Manchester United (3.21 million) and Juventus (2.88 million).
Dídac Lee, FC Barcelona’s head of digital, said: “On YouTube we are committed to reaching our fans through customized content designed and created to feed the interests of this site’s audience, and by adapting the format to the channel’s specificities. This success reinforces a consolidated long-term strategy that has put us at the forefront with standards of excellence that we hope to maintain.”