JAMAICA Football Federation (JFF) General Secretary Dennis Chung believes that placing greater emphasis on YouTube will enhance the country’s football brand in the future.

On Friday, football’s local governing body announced that JFFLIVE, their official YouTube channel, will be putting out more content and streaming live games, including the Reggae Boyz’s upcoming international friendlies against Trinidad and Tobago next month.

Over the last two years the channel has mainly been used for press conferences and player interviews for the senior national men’s and women’s teams.

However, there has reportedly been an increase in demand for live games following the Reggae Girlz’s friendly matches against South Africa at the end of 2024, which garnered over 115,000 views.

Chung says tapping into the YouTube market will give international fans more opportunities to witness the respective national teams.

“We’re very excited about this. It’s something we’ve been working on for a little while to ensure we bring our games and brand to the world, and bring our players closer to the fan base. We think this is definitely the way for us to bring JFF football to the world so that when we have a game we’re not just focusing on persons in Jamaica — because we recognise our fan base is far and wide,” Chung said.

JFF’s new Marketing Manager Avery Campbell believes digital growth is important in the long term.

“We’ve been listening to the fans. We want to get more connected, we want to know more, and we want to bridge the gap between the supporters within the Diaspora and the supporters within the local space. We’ve been building out experience for the games but we also want a digital experience,” Campbell said.

Gario Graham, who will help to oversee JFFLIVE, says the federation will earn more through this initiative.

“This is where the world of sports is going [in terms of] different streaming platforms. This is just the JFF’s way of basically growing with the market, growing with the competitors. And if the stadium goes under renovation we won’t lose revenue because folks will be able to watch in the comfort of their home around the world and know what’s going on with JFF football,” Graham said.

“We’re going to be showing content you’ve never seen before. We’re going more in depth with our product. We’re going to get the fans engaged with our product and athletes on a broader scale.”

The JFF says they plan to stream games for all national teams, including the youth teams. They also intend to introduce interactive content for games they’re unable to stream on their platform.

— Daniel Blake