Real Madrid goes live on Twitch

Spanish LaLiga football club Real Madrid has launched an official channel on social video platform Twitch.

The channel was launched to coincide with an esports competition backed by LaLiga that took place over the weekend. The competition involved LaLiga footballers compete against one another on EA Sports’ FIFA 20 title, with Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio emerging as the winner.

Yesterday (Tuesday), the Real Madrid channel on Twitch streamed a full re-run of its 4-1 win against Alavés from 2002, when Brazilian striker Ronaldo made his debut for the club.

The channel has been launched with football suspended for the league due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Real Madrid said on Twitter that it wants to use the new outlet to increase the scope of its content in the face of the “exceptional and difficult circumstances we are experiencing”.

The launch marks the latest push in Real Madrid’s drive to engage with fans through social media, with the club having recently launched on short-form video sharing app TikTok.

Last weekend’s #LaLigaSantanderChallenge competition was designed by Spanish video game influencer Ibai Llanos. LaLiga helped Llanos organise the tournament, set up games, distribute the stream and create graphics for use during streams. The competition attracted more than one million viewers.