The Great Disrupters: AFTV beat broadcasters at their own game. Now they plan to take on the world

Famous for its anarchic videos of Arsenal fans, AFTV has become a multi-channel broadcast success story with 1.3 billion views a year.
The rise and rise of AFTV is a case study in the power of social media and user generated content and viewers. Advertisers can’t get enough.
Why it matters: Football executives are fixated with digital revenue growth, but can they learn something from an organically grown enterprise run by fans?
The perspective: A recent online watchalong for the Liverpool v Real Madrid Champions League tie matched US and UK broadcast viewing figures for the actual.

Just over ten years ago a 40-year-old surveyor and Arsenal fan named Robbie Lyle stood in front of a borrowed camera beneath the statue of Tony Adams at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

It was a few days after the club had been beaten 2-1 by Manchester United, where the club’s decline under Arsène Wenger seemed to be embodied by the sight of Andre Santos, a nondescript Brazilian left-back, swapping shirts with his opponent Robin van Persie as they walked off together at half-time.

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