## Football Content Has Never Been More Popular on YouTube
The football gods, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or Neymar Jr are making enormous amounts of money, in addition to having an iconic status in the mass media. Such state of affairs explains why YouTube videos with these superstars saw an 80% increase in watch time over the course of the last year.
Interestingly, the highest amount of football-related searches on the world’s largest video sharing platform are coming from the South American and European countries. For example, France’s young star Kylian Mbappé is a popular search in his home country, while videos of Messi, Ronaldo or Neymar are popular searches around the globe.
The number of YouTube users who are watching the game highlights has doubled over the course of the last two years, while the number of match recap viewers has increased 9 times since the last World Cup in 2014. The live streaming content related to football is also gaining momentum, although it still isn’t nearly as popular as the Trick Shot videos or Drills and Skills videos that saw a 6x increase in watch time in the last four years.
Furthermore, some of the most viewed videos on YouTube are football related, since Shakira’s Waka Waka, the official 2010 World Cup song currently has 1.9 billion views. These statistics show how big the football audience on YouTube really is, and that brands and independent entrepreneurs have much to gain by including football related content on their YouTube channels.
Music videos related to previous World Cups have attracted 12% of women more than the videos that show footage of the Euro Cup, which clearly demonstrates that large audiences can be reached if the video doesn’t include the actual gameplay.
As a matter of fact, football audiences are also largely attracted to gaming content, entertainment, and music videos since as much as 18% of the football audience frequently watches entertainment videos.
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Are Sports the Next Big Thing On YouTube? At the moment, sports videos are growing faster than any other genre of videos you can find on YouTube, including entertainment or music, while the branded partnerships in this niche are growing 111% faster than all of the sports videos combined. The window of opportunity is clear for all brands that support sports activities.
Furthermore, brand ads for corporate giants such as Nike, Gatorade or Addidas attracted millions of views, which means that the leading brands in the world of sports have recognized YouTube as a marketplace they can no longer ignore. Brands that want to gain more recognition on the international market can seize this opportunity to team up with influencers on YouTube to present and broaden the reach of their products.
Besides soccer that is currently dominating the largest video sharing platform in the world, basketball, extreme sports and winter sports also provide access to huge audiences and show promising signs that they can help brands and influencers generate more revenue. Popular YouTubers should try to include more sports-related videos on their channels because it might help them attract new followers and secure a foothold in a rapidly growing market.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
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