Following an expanded deal with the National Football League (NFL) that is bound to bring more football viewership to YouTube, the platform has now struck an agreement with Spain’s Liga Nacional de Futbol Profesional (LFP) — the country’s national professional soccer league — to broadcast a number of games for free on YouTube later this summer.
In addition to free live games from the LFP World Challenge, a pre-season tour, YouTube will offer highlights packages and behind-the-scenes footage, according to The Drum. Matches are slated to include the San Jose Earthquakes vs. Spain’s Real Sociedad, the Philadelphia Fury vs SD Eibar, and Bolivia’s Club Blooming v RCD Espanyol, among others.
In terms of video viewership, soccer can be a major boon for digital platforms. When Facebook released a list of the top 10 most-viewed 360-degree video clips of the year thus far, for instance, two of the clips featured professional soccer teams — one of which showcased FC Barcelona paying tribute to deceased coach Johan Cruyff.
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The news comes just days after BT Sport, which holds the exclusive UK broadcast rights to two high-profile soccer tournaments — the Champions League and the Europa League — announced that it would broadcast the final games from each of the aforementioned tournaments live on YouTube. The games, which are put on by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) will take place later this month.
In addition to YouTube, other video companies have made major major plays for sports programming in recent months. Last month, Twitter won the exclusive digital streaming rights for 10 of the NFL’s Thursday Night Football for the 2016 season, while Snapchat struck a deal with NBC that will enable it to show highlights from the 2016 Olympics on a dedicated Discover channel.
