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If someone told you that SonyLIV clocked 45 million viewers for the FIFA 2018World Cup via their website and mobile application, you would possibly think they are winding you up, but digital consumption of football based content is on an upward swing in India.



Since the advent of social media overall sports consumption digitally has grown at an alarming pace in India. Sports fans especially football fans in India have managed to find a way to get closer to their favorite clubs through social networks like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and SnapChat.

In this article we look at how football leagues from the west are consumed on social networks by fans in India and the results are rather surprising.

Most popular football leagues in India

The Premier League was the first entrant into India in the 1990s through Prime/Star Sports and continued to grow in popularity, however, in the age of social media they have experienced competition from Spain’s top league La Liga.

Major League Soccer – The surprise entrant

Major League Soccer (MLS), which was founded after USA’s successful FIFA World Cup in 1994. The MLS has developed to become a top league in North and South America and is competing against the top European leagues on the digital front and are doing a great job at it.

Their digital consumption numbers are a testament to their effort for reaching out and engaging fans globally and especially in India.

Currently, MLS ranks at no.3 for global views on Facebook with 95 million views, third to La Liga (1 billion) and Premier League (461 million) views.

In India, MLS video content received 20.3 million views on Facebook amassing 21% of views of their global views on Facebook.

Here is our infographic about how International football content is consumed by Indian fans on Facebook.