YouTube and Manchester City FC join forces for content partnership
Manchester City have become the first Premier League football club to sign a content deal with video streaming kings YouTube.
The club, who produce around 100 youTube videos each month, get control over rights-owned or club-created videos in the deal, and are also able to tailor advertising as they see fit on their page.
“Manchester City is having a phenomenal year of growth and development online. Our goal is to deliver a market leading experience for fans in terms of online video,” said Richard Ayers, Head of Digital, for Manchester City.
“That means delivering the great content we make to where the audience is – ie on YouTube. This deal is the first move in laying the foundations of our syndication strategy and is part of a series of deals to expand our online capabilities.
“The ability to extend our reach and to increase accessibility to audiences is great, but we’re also looking forward to exploring the differentiating factors of YouTube, like using annotations, making bespoke interactive video and, more than anything else, becoming part of the thriving YouTube community.”
Jeff Nathenson, Head of Sports Partnerships for YouTube, was also keen to talk up the benefits of the new deal:
“We are excited that Manchester City has become the first English Premier League club to become a commercial partner with YouTube. They are proving to be an exciting club both on the pitch and in the digital media space. We believe this kind of deal will have a global impact, allowing them to reach new fans in new territories with compelling original content.”
The Manchester City YouTube channel attracts 3 billion views per day worldwide, with the first video uploaded of Samir Nasri signing for the Club reaching 500,000 views in just three days.
