Manchester United is the most-viewed team in more countries around the world than any other Premier League club, including current champions and rivals Manchester City. Superstar players, who have huge popularity off the pitch, including Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, and Juan Mata, who has a YouTube channel of his own, have contributed to Manchester United’s global appeal in the race for fans. Even ex-players such as Rio Ferdinand boast channels with strong followings on YouTube.
In addition, the Manchester United YouTube Channel has just recently reached one million subscribers in just under six months – making it the sports channel to reach this milestone the fastest globally.
Liverpool, who boast the highest total views last year, are the second most popular team globally, increasingly followed in Brazil, the Middle East and parts of West Africa, thanks to their incredible run to the final of the UEFA Champions League this summer, and international stars such as Roberto Firmino (Brazil), Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mané (Senegal).
In the UK, the club with the most video views across YouTube is Arsenal, many of which are driven by the official club channel and boosted in part from views driven by online fan communities such as Arsenal Fan TV. The Gunners are followed by Manchester United and Liverpool in terms of UK views, while the club with the highest growth in views last season was Fulham, gaining promotion to the Premier League in The Championship Play-Off Final, dubbed ‘the richest game in football’ thanks to the commercial exposure it promises the winner in making it to the Premier League.
