Jordi Wild interviews: Sánchez, Feijóo and Colau draw millions

Why are the Jordi Wild interviews such a big deal?

The numbers alone are large. The Wild Project has almost 7.5 million YouTube subscribers, and according to El País calculations, the podcast and clips of Wild's most-watched show reach 67 million plays. For comparison, the episodes of La Revuelta featuring Santiago Abascal and Pedro Sánchez averaged between 4.4 and 4.7 million viewers.

But it goes beyond audience. Front pages of major Spanish outlets such as El País, elDiario, El Mundo and ABC were running reports and even live analysis of the interviews, and many had spent days building up to them. It is unusual for the leaders of three major parties, including the two with the best chance of reaching Moncloa, to accept long interviews from a YouTuber, on his terms.

One anecdote circulating: Sánchez's advisers reportedly told him not to bruise the podcaster's ego. His reply, as El Confidencial tells it, was: how could he, when Wild had managed to sit the Spanish prime minister down in a studio in Manresa.

Why did Abascal say no?

The Vox leader turned down the invitation at the last minute, and Wild called it "a lack of respect". Abascal has taken plenty of criticism since. Skipping the show means giving up a platform aimed at a very specific audience, mostly young men between 18 and 35 or 40. With Abascal absent, the three candidates who did show up, Feijóo especially, now have that audience to themselves.