Global football is growing, but business must evolve
Table of Contents
- Global football is growing, but business must evolve
- Castellaneta: “Our fan base is global and very young”
- The domestic market is saturated, the future is international
- Not just “hardcore” fans: the content wins
- La Juventus come “content machine”
- Monetization: the most complex challenge
- Juventus Creator Lab: identity and value
In recent years football has achieved a unprecedented international visibilitydriven by the explosion of digital platforms and social media. However, as emerged at SPOBIS Conference in Hamburgone of the main European events dedicated to sports business, the sector has not yet found a structural solution for transform enormous online attention into stable and long-lasting revenues.
A topic that concerns the entire system, but which Juventus has decided to address directly.
Castellaneta: “Our fan base is global and very young”
In his speech, the Marketing Director of Juventus Marco Castellanetacited by Football and Financeclearly photographed the starting point of the Juventus club:
“We have almost 200 million followers on social media. More than 90% are outside Italy. Our audience is international, young: 40% are under 24 years old.”
A figure that grows further on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram e Snapchatnow central to the club’s content distribution strategy.
The domestic market is saturated, the future is international
According to Castellaneta, Juventus’ growth in the coming years it will not pass through Italybut from foreign markets:
“We are already the most supported club and the first Italian brand on social media. The room for growth for the top clubs is definitely in the international markets.”
A key concept for understanding the company’s strategic choices, increasingly oriented towards speaking to fans who they don’t experience the stadiumbut the club through the screen of a smartphone.
Not just “hardcore” fans: the content wins
One of the most significant steps concerns the change in the very concept of a fan:
“Alongside the hardcore fans there is a huge casual fan base who probably don’t even follow the results.”
For this reason, explains Castellaneta, content has become the real acquisition driver:
“Before you were a fan because your family was. Today for the new generations it’s the content.”
La Juventus come “content machine”
Modern football requires clubs to transform themselves into real ones content production machinescapable of competing not only with other clubs, but with the entire world of entertainment:
“Today our competitors are Netflix, Amazon, Disney, TikTok. They are all fighting for the same goal: people’s time.”
A paradigm shift that forces clubs to rethink languages, formats and identities.
Monetization: the most complex challenge
The critical point remains monetization:
“We have 200 million followers. If I could get a euro from each of them I would be the happiest person in the world. But how do you do it?”
The answer comes from the integration of brands in storytelling, through branded content credible and coherent, avoiding standardized communication that makes clubs “all the same” in the eyes of younger fans.
Juventus Creator Lab: identity and value
This is where the Juventus Creator Laba distinctive commercial proposal that has already produced concrete results:
Each project becomes one native IPdesigned from the beginning to be associated with a brand, strengthening identity and recognisability.
date: 2026-02-06 20:16:00