In a UK first, Aston Villa has delivered a full men’s first team match on Facebook Live.

The stream – powered by Stream AMG – covered Aston Villa’s pre-season friendly match against Middlesbrough FC and was simulcast on the club’s AVTV channel on July 30.

Will Radford, Aston Villa’s Head of Media, Content and Marketing said: “This project was about creating an engaging piece of content that demonstrates Aston Villa’s commitment to delivering quality output to our global fan base. We have a new focus on high quality media and aim to utilise the best platform for each opportunity where possible.”

This project kicks off Stream AMG’s second year as a technology provider to AVFC, which has seen two full preseason outings and a full season’s worth of content on the AVTV platform.

Stream AMG’s Director for Sport, Matt McKiernan commented that: “Utilising Stream AMG’s far-reaching video acquisition network and delivery tools, we were able to quickly and reliably deliver the match to AVFCs global fan base. Our relationship with Aston Villa has always been around making the most of the full digital spectrum, Facebook Live is an obvious and complimentary choice to engage fans across many demographic groups.”

With 250,000 views and over 8,000 reactions and comments on Facebook Live’s stream, AVFC has reached over half their global Facebook fan base with just this one post, an engagement level that shows live video engages audiences far more than other forms of media. Here’s how the fans reacted: