FC Barcelona to launch streaming platform
February 4, 2020
Spanish football giants FC Barcelona are planning to launch their own SVoD later this year as part of a wider overhaul of the club’s digital strategy.
The 24/7 streaming platform, which has been branded Barça TV+, will offer all of the La Liga team’s owned video content, including on-demand highlights from first-team matches, exclusive player interviews and archive footage.
The platform will also include live streams from first-team press conferences, B team fixtures, and all women’s team home games from the top-flight Primera Iberdrola. There will also be non-live content from the club’s other sports assets, including their basketball and roller hockey teams.
Josep Maria Bartomeu, president of FC Barcelona, speaking at an event for journalists, said: “A few months ago, while analysing our position and the options available in the digital world, we called on the Digital and Brand Area to design a new digital strategy based on two premises, our absolute conviction in the extraordinary margin for growth that still lies ahead for the Barça brand and the confirmation that our competitive environment has changed. Our opponents are not just in sports. We are competing with the entertainment industry as well”.
“We can now use digital technology to find out who our fans are and what they want. That is why we are developing in-house platforms that can use data analysis methods to offer our fans a wide range of content, products and services that are adapted to their needs. This new model involves a new evolution in terms of our revenue streams. The new income from the digital business will allow us to continue with our ownership structure, which is in the hands of our 140,000 members,” he added.
Dídac Lee, board member and head of the FC Barcelona Digital Area, added “We are witnessing a revolution among consumers and their consumption patterns, especially with regard to younger generations. We are competing with new and unexpected competitors outside of stadiums -we are competing on mobile, television and computer screens for the attention. Our competitors are now also major corporations and content platforms. With this in mind, if we can seize the opportunity, we will capture a much bigger piece of the market, which will also present new business opportunities that didn’t exist before. The projects we are presenting and that we are implementing will remain in place in years. They are here to stay, but will be developed and adapted to keep up with emerging trends in the market”.