YouTube has partnered with digital specialists Rightster and international sports media rights agency MP & Silva to bring the best of international football content to YouTube.
This partnership creates a new football channel on YouTube, Love Football, which will include highlights from Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, U.S. Major League Soccer, Brazil’s Serie A and the Championship, FA Cup and Capital One Cup from England.
Clips of interviews with players and managers, documentaries and behind-the-scenes footage are also part of the channel offer.
There are some rights restrictions for access in certain countries. For instance, the French Ligue 1 videos are not available to viewers in France and Spain, while the English FA Cup is only available in Asia (excluding Thailand) and in selected European countries: Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland.
Major League Soccer from the US is not available in the USA, Canada and Mexico. The Championship and Capital One Cup from England are only available in Asia.
Stephen Nuttall, senior director, sports, YouTube EMEA, said in a statement: “We’re delighted to be able to offer content from Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1 and other international leagues to YouTube’s passionate football community around the world. Our ambition is to establish YouTube as a destination for goals and highlights and this deal adds another top league to YouTube’s football offer.”
Andrea Radrizzani, group CEO, MP & Silva, said: “Launching Love Football on YouTube is an extremely exciting project for us. In addition to highlights clips our new channel gives us the ability to stream live sports content. We can now for the first time engage directly with consumers and football fans on a global scale”.
Charlie Muirhead, founder and CEO of Rightster added, “We’re delighted to be supporting MP & Silva with the exciting launch of the LoveFootball Channels on YouTube. The YouTube platform now has many amazing new features that sports fans will love.
“Rightster’s audience development team in London and New York have already been busy working to alert fans and build the loyal and passionate subscriber base these channels deserve.
“For the first time, Rightster provides MP & Silva with centralised visibility and control of all its sports rights, including complex geographic restrictions and release windows, across both YouTube and all other platforms and publishers – allowing them to do the best possible job for each League.”
