Global Fútbol

Sevilla FC is experiencing a period of sustained growth, combining on-field success with new investments that are increasing commercial potential within all areas of the club, as well as cultivating a global brand. As part of this, the club’s commercial team has launched a new initiative to improve connections to football fans around the world, creating content that brings them closer to club players and staff.

With the demand for new football content surging around the world, Sevilla FC aims to offer something different with its ‘Behind the Scenes’ series, which puts viewers in the shoes of key club personnel as they prepare for matches or go about training routines. Through achieving an emotional pull, the series has quickly generated buzz among the club’s followers.

Applying immersive storytelling
“Across all our social media, but especially on our YouTube channel, it’s very important for us to promote quality over quantity,” Sevilla FC communications director Jesús Gómez explained. Aware of the fierce competition for online attention, the club is focused solely on content that “stays true to our message and establishes our brand”. 

As Gómez added: “We create content that is sophisticated and of high quality which rewards our fans’ loyalty and goes beyond the short term. I think the ‘Behind the scenes’ videos are the best example of this.”

“We want to offer a different kind of focus to what has traditionally been put out there,” the communications director continued. “We want people to see things they’ve never seen before and the human side of our professional footballers.”

These videos show what the experience is like for players inside the club, which Sevilla FC finds has created an important bond with fans. “After each game, our fans are now asking us how long it’ll be for the ‘Behind the scenes’ video for the latest match to come out,” Gómez revealed. “We’ve managed to create a level of anticipation among our fans which shows we’re on the right path.” 

Citing a recent video that covered the signing of Papu Gómez, the communications director added. “We have seen very good returns in terms of engagement as well as, crucially, the feedback from the fans and the press.” 

Building a unique brand
With the immediate success of the initiative, Sevilla FC is now working to convert more club communications to this new style. Beyond just generating views, the objective is to communicate a distinct image of Sevilla FC. 

“The format of ‘Behind the scenes’ is being applied little by little to more club content, although it is a complex process that can’t be achieved overnight,” Gómez said. “We have started by covering matches and making short films, but the plan is to bring this kind of focus to all the areas possible.”

The statistics explain the club’s motivation to expand this style of content. The number of views for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ series has reached a record figure for the club’s YouTube channel of 10,956,015 and counting, with engagement from all over the world.

“The closeness we’re offering has translated into an increase in our subscriber count, which has gone up by 36,764,” Gómez continued. “Our number of minutes viewed has also gone up by 3,675,648. It’s especially interesting to us that we’ve appealed to fans from the club’s strategic regions such as Latin America, the USA and MENA.” 

The human touch
In the context of a global pandemic that has kept fans from attending stadiums, Sevilla FC believes that adopting this intimate style of content has been key to maintaining growth with fans around the world. By highlighting the human side of the players and staff, the club has become more relatable and therefore, easier to engage with.

“The current situation has been tough for everyone and we aren’t worried to show that,” Gómez said. “We had already been working on this kind of format, but in the final stages of last season we decided to go even further. We wanted to share everything that we were experiencing during those weeks, highlighting the work that others couldn’t see and telling the story of a group of united teammates who were fighting during a global crisis.”

As Gómez recalled: “There was a lot to communicate and I think we did it well. We are meeting our objectives, but we are clear that, in a world as dynamic as the digital one, we must keep constantly improving the technical and conceptual quality of the content that we offer.”