Spanish LaLiga football club Real Madrid has launched a subscription-based service on social media platform Facebook.
Madridista Nation is designed to be an exclusive Facebook community for the club’s fans, offering photos, videos, exclusive content and special stickers. Real Madrid has priced membership at €2.49 ($2.77) per month.
Membership will allow Real fans to display the club’s crest on their Facebook account, while exclusive prizes and special discounts on merchandise will be offered.
Real’s move follows that of Barcelona, which in September said it would become the first partner for Facebook’s new Fan Subscription service.
Earlier this month, Liverpool launched a ‘paid-for’ membership option on its YouTube channel, becoming the first global sports team to utilise the feature. The initiative allows the club’s supporters to choose between two membership tiers offering premium content, with prices varying by country.
Level 1 membership costs £0.99 (€1.14, $1.27) per month in the UK and gives users access to bespoke emojis and loyalty badges, as well as two live shows every match, pre- and post-match interviews and exclusive community posts.
Level 2 membership costs £2.99 per month in the UK and includes all the features of Level 1 as well as others such as U18s and U23s match highlights, weekly preview and review shows and content from the training ground.
Meanwhile, English Premier League champion Manchester City has claimed a first by opening a dedicated channel on YouTube Kids, the video-sharing platform’s service for children.
A range of City-themed children’s content will be showcased, including behind-the-scenes videos and a weekly magazine show called Xtra Time. Match highlights and bespoke short-form content aimed at children under 12 will also be offered.
Nuria Tarré, chief marketing officer for City Football Group, was quoted by the Prolific North website as saying: “We want to continue to push boundaries beyond our existing platforms to reach new audiences and as YouTube Kids is the number one video platform for children, it feels like the right place to share our content.
“We strongly believe in creating safe and certified environments for children online and YouTube Kids offers a trusted way for our content to be consumed by the younger generation.”