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Manchester United start a TikTok channel

Manchester United Tik Tok

TikTok has become a sensation all over the world, with millions of people using the short video-sharing app to create short clips in the hope of going viral and becoming popular over the internet.

This has allowed people to become content creators from their homes, and the app’s popularity has also skyrocketed this year due to the various lockdowns all around the world owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even with issues in certain countries such as the USA and India owing to its Chinese ownership, TikTok remains one of the biggest and most popular social media sites today. Thus, it is not surprising that Manchester United have looked to capitalize on this.

The English Premier League club recently announced the launch of its own TikTok channel, to provide exclusive content to their fans.

According to the club statement released upon launch, the TikTok feed will feature unique content including hashtag challenges, brand collaborations and stadium tours, along with augmented reality (AR) content as well, in a way to bring Old Trafford to fans, since they cannot attend matches at the moment.

The TikTok account will cover both the men’s and women’s football teams, as well as the U23 side. However, one market that will not be served through TikTok is China, where the app is not available.

However, given how popular the club is in China, United will simultaneously be launching on Douyin, which is the Chinese version of TikTok, to maintain its popularity there.

Given that TikTok is available in 150 countries and 75 languages, this represents another step towards entrenching and reinforcing Manchester United’s popularity all over the globe.

United are probably the most famous football club in the world, and the club’s commercial wing has been taking advantage of that by making numerous regional agreements and sponsorship deals, which have also helped make United one of the highest-earning clubs in world football.

It is also interesting that the club is looking to AR as a way to further connect with fans on TikTok. AR can be a great way for fans to be able to get some sort of glimpse into Old Trafford again, while also allowing them to be a bigger part of matchday experiences, for example.

At the same time, brand collaborations will ensure that the level of engagement remains high as well, which will only serve to improve United’s business prospects in that regard. , as more and more content moves towards a form of virtual reality to keep people entertained without having to go outdoors, and thus the fact that United have embraced this change is a great sign.

United’s popularity has barely taken a hit due to their relatively poor performances on the pitch over the last seven years or so, but things look like they may be getting better now.

Under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Manchester United have climbed up to third in the Premier League table, with a game in hand, meaning that they can potentially be just two points away from top spot if they win that game.

They did disappointingly crash out of the Champions League after being in a very strong position, but their form domestically has been very strong.

Given that this season has been disrupted by COVID and thus has been quite unpredictable, it will be very interesting to see if the team can keep this challenge up till the end of the season, which will again help its prospects off the pitch in terms of attracting new fans and sponsorships as well.

Written by Pranav Nair

An Engineering postgraduate with a keen interest in statistics, pop culture and football.

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