Manchester City FC say the decision of its owners to go completely digital has helped build its global audience.
That鈥檚 the view of the club鈥檚 editor-in-chief Chris Bailey, who effectively oversees all the editorial content coming out the club.
He said following the club鈥檚 takeover in 2008 the new owner Sheikh Mansour made being completely digital a key priority.
Man City鈥檚 Twitter account now has 4.6 million followers while the club also has a big social media presence on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.
A recent funny video the club shared of star player Kevin De Bruyne being accidentally hit in the face with a ball was viewed more than 10 million times in total.
Bailey said Man City took a conscious decision not to set up a TV channel, preferring instead to go down the digital route.
鈥淲e try and entertain people,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have that culture and hopefully try to build it a bit quicker although, like I said, a lot of Premier League clubs are catching up.
鈥淭he idea was to grow the fan base, and to pinch a phrase from the 2017 general election, it was always going to be 鈥榝or the many, not the few鈥�.鈥�
With the Premier League now being a global brand Bailey said the digital approach has enabled them to reach with audiences all over the world.
鈥淚 am so lucky because we鈥檙e allowed to make mistakes,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are encouraged to innovate, to try stuff where we can. If we make mistakes nobody鈥檚 really shouting at us and that鈥檚 a really great culture.
鈥淔ootball鈥檚 always been, conservative with a small 鈥榗鈥�. It鈥檚 a bit of an echo chamber, it鈥檚 very slow to change. I鈥檓 sure you both have to convince chairmen of boards, to spend money on tech, to spend money on people who run tech and I鈥檝e got to say at this point, people are the most important thing.鈥�
We reported earlier this year how City recruited a firm to trawl trillions of their fans鈥� social media posts to understand them better.
Bailey spoke at a recent digital summit called by new Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and agreed with a comment from AO.com鈥檚 founder John Roberts.
鈥淢y job is to run a team, build a team and get the right people,鈥� explained Bailey. 鈥淛ohn said 鈥榓lways employ people that are smarter than you鈥�. That鈥檚 not hard in my case and that鈥檚 what we do.
“Let them do what they do, don鈥檛 micro manage them, don鈥檛 interfere, they鈥檙e creatives, really bright people. Just let them do what they do.鈥�
The club recently released an app dedicated to developing the skills of young Americans which allows them to compare themselves with City stars.