Global football icon Cristiano Ronaldo’s YouTube channel hit 1 million subscribers, earning the creator the highly anticipated Gold Play Button. Despite launching with a lot of fanfare, he did not receive the award on the first day due to how the YouTube award system works.
Cristiano Ronaldo receives a gold play button on the same day his YouTube channel launched PIC.TWITTER.COM/GJDM92DTHV
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) AUGUST 22, 2024
The channel was created as an outlet for Ronaldo’s career highlights, endorsement deals, and miscellaneous personal videos. Very soon, due to his great following around the world, the channel rose to major milestones that many creators can only ever dream of. But a general misconception was created, as if he had received a Gold Play Button from YouTube on the day he created his channel.
These awards are milestone-based; hence, they cannot be awarded to a channel on the very first day of its launch, even if it is run by a celebrated creator. Though Ronaldo’s channel might have soared to over a million subscribers in turn, making his account way over-qualified to receive a Gold Play Button on the very first day, the process requires some logistic effort in verifying milestones and sending out these awards.
The rumors that Cristiano Ronaldo would be receiving this extravagant award on the day of the premiere could have been from exaggeration or simply a misinterpretation of the happening at YouTube. The popularity that Ronaldo has, which has no comparison, naturally means that he will actually garner millions of subscribers just days after the formation of his channel, after which he could be installed into a list for receiving the Gold Play Button—not really a day as soon as his channel had just been established.
This digital strategy of Ronaldo transcends the feats he performs on the pitch into even greater propagator roles for his personal brand. Thus, it links him even more to each fan on a personal, direct level. Through sharing with audiences what he does off the pitch and engaging people with a variety of content, Ronaldo is further securing his place not only as a sporting legend but also as a global digital influencer.
