This week, the specialist Chinese digital agency Mailman released their latest look at European clubs and their performance on Chinese social media platforms.  Last year, FC Barcelona came out on top of their scored, followed up by the likes of Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

The report not only look at who has secured the largest number of followers, but also the spread of channels they are invested in, engagement with fans through those channels and the ‘buzz’ (interactions) each club has received .

This is the third annual ‘Red Card’ report the group has released and is one of the few glimpses we get into how European clubs are fairing when it comes to growing their brand on social networks in this massive country.

They have not only produced a table or results but also dived further into each specific category with the reasoning behind each score.  There are also one-off analysis of WeChat, the results of a poll by Hupu Sport asking which club people follow on Weibo and also which players as the most successful as well (see below for the results).

So which clubs are succeeding when it comes to Chinese social media?

Taking a look at basic follower numbers, the surprise team coming out on top is Manchester City.  They are far and away the most followed with almost 10m fans across Sina and Tencent Weibo on their official accounts.  Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid are a fair way back with 3-4 million each.

Looking past the usual numbers to engagement, Bayern Munich possess the strongest of all the clubs, with an average of 317 forwards and comments per post.  Their treble winning season and current excellent form clearly playing a major part in their China success.  In stark contrast, Manchester City’s huge follower numbers do not reflect the activity of their accounts.  They are the club with the widest gap between online fans and average engagement on their accounts.

Lastly there is the matter of buzz.  And the team coming out on top of this one was Manchester United, just ahead of Premier League rivals Liverpool.  KAWO tracked Sina Weibo for 30 days, scanning all posts for specific key words.  Any post which mentioned one of the football clubs and included the keyword ‘football’ was into their database.

“This year exploded with professional football teams exploring new channels to support their Chinese social media, the biggest mover being Bayern Munich who, off the back of their Champions League winning season, were well rewarded with a surge in popularity. Moving forward, China’s appetite for professional football is really only just getting started.”  –  Andrew Collins, CEO of Mailman Group. 

So you know that Bayern came out on top, but where did your team place?  The graphic below reveals the final placings…

Key take-outs of the report are;

• With China becoming a major focus for their competitors, last year’s winner drops to 7^th place.
• Only 6 teams have a presence on WeChat: China’s fastest growing platform.
• Lionel Messi has a Chinese fan base twice the size of Manchester City’s.
• Sports sponsorship makes up 77% of total sponsorship spending in China.
• PSG became the first French team to launch in China.

You can download the full report by clicking on this link >> REDCARD Report.

Before we go… below are some great thoughts from those involved in the report as they discuss how other clubs could succeed on Chinese social networks, why many of top clubs have identified the county as a key market and which club best uses the platforms to engage with fans.  Enjoy!