Barça link up with Tencent, China’s internet giant

Beijing (FCB).- Barça have strengthened their leading position on the web with the agreement signed with Tencent –China’s leading internet provider- to facilitate their entry into the Chinese market. FC Barcelona and the Chinese company have reached a deal to develop Barça’s position in China with the aim of opening up new markets and income streams. Dídac Lee, FC Barcelona’s Director for New Technologies who signed the agreement alongside Director General  Antoni Rossich, said to be “very satisfied” with the deal. Lee explained: “Tencent are a leading Chinese business in their sector and the agreement fits in perfectly with the strategy we are attempting to put into place. On a personal level, I am especially pleased given the specific area I am in charge of and where I come from”.

As a result of the deal, Tencent (www.tencent.com) will develop a new Chinese version of the Club’s website, subject to the Club’s approval of all content, as well as promoting applications and mobile phone games under the Barça trademark.

FC Barcelona to reach China’s main social networks

The agreement also opens the doors to Barça’s presence on China’s social networks. Tencent not only provides online services such as web hosting technologies, but also social networks (they are the leaders in China), online games, mobile phone applications, electronic commerce and publicity on the web. Tencent runs a series of such networks with millions of users including the QQ network, which is the largest instant messaging network in the country and serves 900 million users; Qzone, with 500 million customers; or, Pengyou, with 130 million registered users.

In the short term, the deal will show its first fruits this Tuesday when FC Barcelona will open an account on TencentWeibo, popularly known as the Chinese Twitter, which boasts 300 million users.

Dídac Lee expressed his conviction that the web is the ideal platform for FC Barcelona to expand its potential throughout the world: “I think that working online is the best way for Barça to reach all of its fans all over the world, and especially in China where we are the Chinese public’s favourite club”. Lee also stressed the fact that this was the first time that Tencent “had signed a deal like this on a global level. The company’s directors have expressed their satisfaction to us, not just because we are a great club, but also because we share so many values”.

Barça leads in new technologies

With this latest agreement, FC Barcelona consolidates its position as a leader in new technologies. Barça lead the social networks with nearly 23 million fans on Facebook and 4.5 million followers on Twitter (on their Catalan, Spanish and English language accounts). The numbers on these platforms are actually increasing faster than the increase for both networks as a whole. In addition, on YouTube Barça are the leading sports channel in Spain.

FC Barcelona have set up a strong digital strategy, which was recently presented to coincide with the launch of the updated website www.fcbarcelona.cat, the most visited in the Spanish League, with more than 100 million visits a year. The strategy aims to strengthen Barça’s digital activity, not just via the website, but also through other platforms such as mobile phone apps, to provide an improved service to Barça fans and members.

The deal with Tencent is the latest in a series of agreements with IT companies, including the agreement reached with Telefónica I + D to improve the coverage available to spectators at the Cam Nou stadium and the deal struck along with organisations such as UNICEF and Google at the beginning of November at the launch of the Google + network for professionals.

Successful trip to China

This latest agreement occurred during the visit to Beijing and Shanghai, which members of FC Barcelona’s Board, headed by the club’s President Sandro Rosell, have made over the last few days. Events during the visit have included a Gala Charity Dinner for the China Foundation for Disabled Persons (CFDP), as well as a well-received speech at the University of Beijing and meetings with the leaders of the country’s two main cities.