November 9 – Having debuted on social media platform TikTok last week, Manchester United have rapidly followed up with a launch on Douyin, China’s leading destination for short-form mobile video content.
Both launches are part of the club’s new partnership with ByteDance, which owns both platforms.
The Douyin channel will include behind-the-scenes and match-related content, including in-game clips from Premier League games, and exclusive content featuring current and former players including Paul Pogba and David Beckham. Augmented Reality technologies will also be used in content delivery.
Phil Lynch, chief executive of media at Manchester United, said: “These exciting launches will help us connect with a new generation of fans in China and around the world and provide a platform for new forms of storytelling, and innovative club content designed to engage and entertain young fans.”
In the first week on TikTok, Man Utd attracted over 360,000 followers to the @manutd channel. The club has built more than 166 million social media connections worldwide and generated 1.1 billion social media interactions during the 2019/20 season.
The Douyin launch is a pillar of the club’s wider strategy to deepen engagement with Chinese fans.
Richard Arnold, Manchester United Managing Director, emphasising a commitment to China, said at the reporting of the club’s financial results last month: “Since our first friendly match on the Mainland in 1975, Manchester United has established a significant fan and follower base in the region.
“Earlier in the fiscal year, we announced a strategic partnership with Alibaba, which includes the YouKu platform and we are now producing more localized Chinese content than ever before. We are also the first and only football club to reach 10 million Weibo followers and we are also the most engaged Club on both the Weibo and WeChat platforms.”
The Premier League ended its broadcast deal with Suning’s PPTV early in August, before entering a one-season deal with Tencent.
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