Football is the most popular global sport on social media, with more than 650m fans on Facebook alone. So when a football team is about to enter the biggest game of its season the engagement and interaction between the club and its fans increases exponentially.

Fans demand the best content instantly, in premium-quality and on platforms where they spend their time.  There are few platforms that can meet this need for rights holders, but for the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final, Grabyo worked with Real Madrid C.F. to make this a reality for their fans around the world.

By ingesting two live feeds into Grabyo – one Spanish language and one in English – the now 11-time European Champions distributed 20 live streams to Facebook to bring fans closer to the action.

The impact of streaming live, social video was immediate – demonstrating measurable value to the club.

Across a four-day period, Real Madrid C.F.’s TV-quality streams generated 28.6 million video views on Facebook and appeared more than 290 million times in fans’ social newsfeeds across the globe.  With Grabyo, the production process was fast, efficient and scalable – managed centrally using our browser-based video platform.

Conversation about Real Madrid C.F. was naturally high on social media during the match itself, which took place on Saturday 28th May at 7.45pm BST. However, the highest engagement for Real Madrid C.F.’s live videos was more than twenty-four hours later when many clubs would expect to see engagement rates decline. At 11pm on Sunday 29th May, Real Madrid C.F.’s content peaked for live video views during a celebration of their win at the Bernabeu stadium in Madrid. Using Grabyo’s social video tools around a major event, Real Madrid C.F. was able to sustain a conversation and keep fans engaged for a long time beyond the match itself.

Live streaming is the biggest trend in social media right now. Real Madrid C.F. was quick to understand the benefits of giving fans premium content, in real-time, direct to their social feeds. The club generated millions of views, engaged tens of millions of fans and extracted significant new value from existing video rights – none of which included match action from the final.

Real Madrid has continued to use Grabyo since the UEFA Champions League Final, broadcasting a full-length Legends game recently against Ajax. The game, which featured leading ex-players such as Raùl, Steve McManamen, Figo, Seedorf, Kluivert and Roberto Carlos was watched by more than 2.5 million viewers. The match, now available in a VOD format on the club’s Facebook page was also liked by half a million people and shared by over 10,000 fans. By broadcasting Live to Facebook, Real Madrid C.F. made it’s Legends game available to everyone – not just those fortunate enough to have attended at the Bernabéu stadium.

If you work for a club, rights holder or broadcaster and want to learn about how you can maximize your video assets, including through live broadcast, to social media, get in touch with the Grabyo team – we’d love to here from you.

To read more about the success of Grabyo’s clients live streaming to Facebook, click here.