Red Card 2025: Asia Digital Performance Index

🚀 Today is the release of the Red Card 2025, an in-depth report analyzing the latest digital trends in football fan engagement, digital activations, and the evolving landscape of sports media across Asia.

💡 The report also provides a comprehensive look at how football clubs, leagues, and brands are leveraging innovative strategies to connect with fans in one of the world’s most dynamic regions. It includes standout campaigns from the top European football clubs in the past year, a spotlight on one of China’s leading social media platforms, Douyin, and a digital snapshot on key Asian markets, as well as a look back at the UEFA Euro 2024 championship and 2025 predictions.

Download the report here

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Key Highlights from the report

 1. Club Rankings

The Red Card 2025: Asia Digital Performance Index has ranked the world’s biggest football clubs based on a detailed analysis of followers, growth, and engagement across China’s most popular social platforms, including Weibo, Douyin, Bilibili, and RedNote. This year’s winners based on Mailman’s methodology, which is available on request, are revealed as:

🥇 Manchester City

🥈 Manchester United

🥉 Fc Barcelona

🗣️ "We are thrilled to see Manchester City win the Red Card Award for the second year running. At Manchester City we are committed to providing our international fans with the most engaging experiences, across exciting platforms and customized content, to connect with the club they love. We want to celebrate this achievement with all our Chinese cityzens for their amazing passion and support." David Tang, CEO at City Football Group, China

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2. Best Digital Activations Driving Fan Engagement

The campaigns highlighted have been chosen for their ability to drive fan awareness outside of the football fan circle. They represent the best examples of clubs embracing new digital methods, platform trends and partnerships to drive engagement with fans, including:

• Real Madrid’s collaboration with Olympic gold medalist Fan Zhendong, which went viral on Weibo, garnering 1 million engagements and 13 million views.

• PSG’s Chinese New Year jersey launch featuring singer Jay Chou and a group of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), creating a buzz across fashion, music, and lifestyle circles.

• Manchester United’s cross-industry success with influencer Lu Han, generating over 110 million impressions.

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3. Douyin’s Role in Revolutionizing Sports Content

Douyin, China’s leading short-video platform, has become a powerhouse for football content. The report breaks down how the platform is reshaping how fans consume sports across over 800 million daily active users, through:

• Pay-Per-View (PPV) models, enabling clubs to monetize live content directly.

• Algorithm-driven targeting, which has driven 2.7 billion views across 15,764 matches since 2022.

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4. EURO 2024’s Impact in China

The report also delves into UEFA’s record-breaking engagement during EURO 2024, including the best online campaigns and stand-out moments. Highlights include:

• 1 billion impressions and 7 million engagements across Chinese social media platforms.

• Virtual Billboard Replacement (VBR) technology, which tailored ads for Chinese audiences during live broadcasts.

• A surge in Chinese outbound tourism, with flight bookings to Germany increasing by 110% during the tournament.

🗣️ "EURO 2024 was a milestone in engaging with our Chinese fans through social media, with record-breaking interactions and innovative campaigns across live and planned content. The growing support from our Chinese partners like BYD, Hisense, Alipay, AliExpress and Vivo, together with the extensive coverage on iQiYi and CCTV, reflects the strong connection we’ve built locally, and we’re excited to continue fostering this relationship as we grow football together." Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Marketing Director

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5. Fan Insights Across Asia

With a passionate and culturally diverse legion of football fans, Asia is a growing market for the sport. The Red Card 2025: Asia Digital Performance Index provides a detailed breakdown of football fandom in this region’s key markets:

• India: Football’s fanbase exceeds 300 million, with cricket remaining a dominant crossover interest.

• Indonesia: Motorsports and badminton are popular among football fans, with TikTok driving trends.

• Japan and South Korea: Baseball and K-pop offer unique opportunities for football clubs to engage new audiences.

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6. Predictions for 2025

With 2025 well underway, the report explores the technologies and developments that will likely shape Asia’s digital landscape over the coming months. These include:

• Douyin’s PPV model expanding to cover 25+ global football competitions, generating nine-figure revenues for rights holders.

• DeepSeek revolutionizing fan engagement through personalized interactions and data-driven insights.

• YouTube solidifying its dominance as the go-to platform for sports content across the APEC region.

• Investment in China’s women’s grassroots football yields tangible growth.

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🗣️ “This report underscores the incredible potential of Asia’s football market,” said Dominic Lytwyn, VP, Digital at Mailman, an IMG company. “From innovative digital activations to the rise of platforms like Douyin, the region is at the forefront of shaping the future of sports fandom. Our insights aim to empower clubs, leagues, and brands to connect with fans in meaningful and impactful ways."

Methodology: The full methodology is available on request.

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About

Mailman, an IMG Company

Mailman, an IMG company, is one of Asia’s leading sports digital agencies. Founded in China in 1999, Mailman helps the world’s biggest sports, entertainment, and lifestyle brands build successful businesses in international growth markets. As part of IMG, a TKO Group Holdings company, Mailman leverages global expertise to deliver cutting-edge digital strategies and fan engagement solutions.

IMG

IMG is a leading global sports marketing agency, specializing in media rights management and sales, multi-channel content production and distribution, brand partnerships, strategic consulting, digital services, and events management. It powers growth of revenues, fanbases and IP for more than 200 federations, associations, events, and teams, including the National Football League, English Premier League, International Olympic Committee, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, ATP and WTA Tours, the AELTC (Wimbledon), Euroleague Basketball, CONMEBOL, DP World Tour, and The R&A, as well as UFC, WWE, and PBR. IMG is a subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), a premium sports and entertainment company.

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Media Contact

Denis Green

Denis@mailmangroup.com 

+86 16602182243

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