August 4 – Inter Milan are boosting fan engagement activities via two new initiatives: a partnership with video gamemaker EA Sports for its FIFA game and a new WeChat virtual community for its Chinese fans.
EA Sports have also agreed a similar deal with Inter’s city rival AC Milan.
The multi-year partnership with EA Sports will see the firm become Inter’s Global Football Videogame Partner with the partnership’s first activation being a virtual match against top Argentine club San Lorenzo – the first time the two clubs have met on or off the pitch.
EA Sports has reported record last quarter figures of $1.46 billion as a world in lockdown turned to video games for entertainment. It is this unexpected boost to the gaming business and a rapidly growing Chinese fanbase that Inter is looking to keep engaged.
“This new agreement with Electronic Arts is instrumental to provide world class entertainment on and off the pitch. Innivation is at the core of our strategy and we believe that working together with a leader in gaming and e-sports will help us in our objective to get closer to new generations of football lovers worldwide,” said Alessandro Antonello, corporate CEO of Inter.
China calling
With Inter reporting a 73% increase on its Chinese social media channels, the club have launched a new WeChat platform dedicated to their Chinese fanbase.
Inter have been on the WeChat platform since 2014. The new Inter Mini-Program will carry club the latest news as well as targeted discounts on official merchandise.
WeChat has expanded beyond a social media app and now offers a range of services from mobile payment to car rental booking.
Inter said it now has 42 official Inter Clubs in Chinese, a growth of 31% on last year, and 6 million social media followers, 73% more than last year, over five dedicated channels – Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, DongQiuDi, Toutiao.
On Weibo the club has more than 4.5 million subscribers to the channel, and also the most number of reads on WeChat. On Douyin, Inter have reached more than 132 million interactions and has seen an increase of views of 65%.
During the 2019/20 season, the number of Inter fans grew by 83% on Weibo, where interactions also increased by 114%.
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