The New England Patriots have long been viewed as a team that epitomizes success within North American sports, and now the club has picked up another victory in Asia. Data from Chinese digital marketing firm Mailman shows the Patriots have emerged as the most popular NFL team in China.
Over the past 12 months, the Patriots’ official channel on Chinese social networking site Weibo has grown from 100,000 followers to exceed 500,000. The Pittsburgh Steelers (271,000 followers) are the next most-popular NFL club on the platform. According to Mailman’s research, the Patriots’ social media presence in China is growing quicker than that of many European football clubs such as Manchester United and FC Barcelona, as well as the majority of NBA teams.
“China represents a strategic and important market for the Patriots and we’re delighted to see our commitment delivering positive results and a growing core fan base,” said Fred Kirsch, VP of Content for the Patriots, in a press release. “To surpass 500,000 fans on Weibo is a great milestone and we intend to build on this foundation as we move forward with more local China projects this year.”
In October, the Patriots launched two original TV shows in China, a commitment that appears to have paid off for the franchise given its growth in the world’s most populated country. One of the shows, the Tom Brady China Show, which featured exclusive 15-minute video episodes hosted by the quarterback, amassed 15.8 million total views across Tencent-owned digital platforms such as Weibo and WeChat to make it the most viewed NFL club content series of all time, according to Mailman.
In contrast, Gillette Stadium TV—the other show the Patriots produced exclusively for China—gained 2.1 million total views in the country. The eight-episode series was aired across Tencent’s digital platforms throughout the 2018 NFL season. Episodes were between five and eight minutes long and shared local fan stories, game previews, and game recaps.
SportTechie Takeaway
In 2017, the NFL signed a three-year partnership with Tencent, giving the company the exclusive rights to stream live NFL games in China. Through on-field success and creating exclusive NFL-related content for Chinese fans, no team has benefited from the NFL’s desire to expand into China as much as the Patriots have. Basketball and the NBA are still the most popular sport and league, respectively, in China, but investments in social and digital media have helped the NFL bolster its popularity.