Manchester United strikes deal with Alibaba to boost football club’s engagement with its Chinese fan base
Premier League football club Manchester United announced on Friday a new partnership with e-commerce giant Alibaba as it aims to raise its profile and merchandise sales in the world’s second-largest economy.
The deal will see Manchester United content, including selected first-team matches, highlights and localized original productions, available to consumers across Alibaba’s platforms (such as video-streaming platform Youku.com).
The content will be available to Alibaba’s “around 700 million consumers,” United said.
Alibaba’s ecosystem will be the official home for @ManUtd's video content in China. Fans will be able to enjoy first-team matches and highlights, as well as global and China-specific content on its dedicated Youku channel. https://t.co/yote8ivHBGpic.twitter.com/NZE36AbzIY
— Alibaba Group (@AlibabaGroup) December 6, 2019
The sides are also planning to open a Manchester United flagship store on Alibaba’s business-to-consumer platform Tmall to sell merchandise to Chinese fans.
“We’re proud of our passionate and loyal following around the world and our Chinese fans are a huge part of that,” said Manchester United Group Managing Director Richard Arnold.
He added that the club is looking for new ways to engage with fans in China and is working with Alibaba “to further grow our fan base in China and building on other areas of the partnership in the near future.”
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