Cristiano Ronaldo, who is arguably one of the top 3 soccer players of all time, has recently made a huge stride to further his global domination with his own YouTube channel. And with 13+ million social media followers, Ronaldo’s new ventures into the digital world should stir up quite a ripple.
This channel, simply known as “UR” premiered today and broke records. In just 90 minutes, it surpassed 1 million subscribers, making it the fastest-growing new channel on YouTube. In the next 4 hours, the subscriber count had skyrocketed to an amazing 5 million.
Ronaldo’s meteoric rise on YouTube highlights his immense influence, particularly among younger audiences who are deeply engaged with social media and online content. Ronaldo at 39 years old is proving to be quite the scholar of the creator economy and how it could be used to his advantage in terms of his brand and his legacy.
UR” channel, which vows to give fans a glimpse of Ronaldo’s life, not just on the football pitch. These will be his family, his workout routine, his diet, his training, his recovery, his knowledge, and his business. That’s what all the really great creators have done and have gained audiences of millions because they offer such a variety of content that just about anyone can find something they can be interested in.
“I’ve always valued my relationship with fans on social media,” Ronaldo said in the channel’s launch announcement. But my YouTube channel will give me an even bigger pulpit to reach out to them and inform them of my life and my family and my opinions about everything and everything under the sun.
The debut of “UR” emphasizes the increasing significance of YouTube in the lives of celebrities, athletes, and other public figures as a means of communicating with their fans. Before these Icons would have to funnel through the “gatekeepers” to reach their audience, now with social media, they can completely bypass the gatekeepers, and speak to their audiences when they want, however they want.
Now that so many “star” athletes are recognizing the need for their own personal digital media outlet, this tide will not be going out anytime soon. Ronaldo’s jump into YouTube is quite the jump because that just shows a whole new avenue for athletes to utilize their popularity and connect with their fan base in this internet age.
