Media companies are no longer just battling tech giants for market share. The competition now appears in the form of a football club too. One that already has hundreds of millions of reach across the globe.

We are talking about Real Madrid.

Beyond being a sporting organization, the football powerhouse is fast moving into the digital content space to increase monetisation avenue.

In September 2017, the football club debuted ‘Hala Madrid’, an eight-episode documentary narrated by actor Orlando Bloom on Facebook’s video platform ‘Watch’ - giving hundreds of millions of fans a rare chance to look into what goes on behind the scenes at Santio Bernabéu Stadium on game day, among others.

And Real Madrid's content ambition is certainly helped by the fact that it is scoring on the social media front too.

With 54.9 million Instagram followers (star player Cristiano Ronaldo alone has close to 120 million) and 106 million of Facebook fans, the football club is capitalizing on its massive fan base, off the pitch.

Speaking exclusively at COMMA 2017, IDC Asean Managing Director Sudev Bangah lays out the situation - it's time to keep a look out for disruptors beyond your industry.

'If you were to ask me a few years ago about an energy drink or a football team disrupting the media industry, that might have been something of a shock to a lot of people' - Bangah

Real Madrid has done right by capitalizing on its strong fan base by heading into content.

Nonetheless, turning the reach and mentions into a company’s’ bottom line requires something else called advocacy- the capability to influence and encourage others to engage with a brand.

In this social media age, there’s no better form of advocacy or word-of-mouth marketing than having one posts and share about your company on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Towards this end, another football club has done it right.

Sudev explains how Manchester United’s jersey designing competition turned out to be more than just a one-off brand engagement.

‘Data is, and ultimately will be, forever and ever, your best friend’ – Bangah