What Nike video became the first YouTube film to reach one million views?

Nike’s “Ronaldinho: Touch of Gold” became the first YouTube film to reach one million views.

The video was a Nike football advertisement featuring Brazilian star Ronaldinho. Uploaded in 2005, only months after YouTube was founded, it showed Ronaldinho repeatedly striking the crossbar with a ball before controlling the rebound. The seemingly impossible sequence made the advertisement especially compelling in the early viral-video era.

In November 2005, the Nike clip became the first video on YouTube to reach 1,000,000 views. It is often described as one of the earliest examples of a branded video spreading through online sharing rather than relying only on conventional television advertising. The clip was later removed from YouTube, so many viewers know it through reposts, retrospectives or remastered versions.

The title is sometimes confused with other Nike football campaigns, including “Write the Future,” “Winner Stays” and “The Cage.” Those were later, large-scale football advertisements. “Touch of Gold” belongs to the earlier Joga Bonito period and is specifically associated with Ronaldinho’s famous crossbar challenge.