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Douyin, China’s TikTok, scores exclusive short video content partnership with Manchester City

  • Douyin will run exclusive Manchester City content such as interviews, match highlights and documentaries as part of two-year deal starting August
  • The Chinese short video app also has official partnerships with La Liga and FC Bayern Munich

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English Premier League club Manchester City signed a two-year deal starting in August for Douyin to run exclusive content such as interviews, match highlights and documentaries. Photo: Reuters
Coco Feng
While short video app TikTok is facing troubles in international markets such as the US and India, its mainland Chinese version Douyin is proving to be as popular as ever, recently adding another European football giant to its collection of official partners.

English Premier League club Manchester City signed a two-year deal starting in August for Douyin to run exclusive content such as interviews, match highlights and documentaries as its “official short video partner”, the team said in a WeChat post earlier this week.

As part of the partnership, Manchester City will also work with Douyin to launch themed challenges on the viral short video platform, and plan more content at key periods such as major international events to “narrow the distance between the club and its fans,” it said in the post.

The English club is the latest of several well-known football names to work with Douyin. The Chinese short video app became La Liga’s official social media partner in China in April, and the Spanish football league now has 1.6 million followers on the app. German club FC Bayern Munich, which signed a similar deal with Douyin in May, has 1.1 million followers in China.

TikTok may be more well-known globally, but Douyin still generates most of the revenue for the apps’ Beijing-based owner ByteDance. The mainland Chinese market accounted for 89 per cent of the two apps’ combined revenue in May, followed by 6.2 per cent from the US, according to Sensor Tower.

Even as TikTok faces a ban by the Trump administration as early as this Sunday over national security and data privacy concerns, Douyin has grown its number of daily active users in its domestic market by 50 per cent since the start of the year – from 400 million in January to 600 million in August – and its enormous user base has continued to be a draw for international names.
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