14 DAY TRIAL // In its never-ending quest to add more content, especially professional, 'clean' content that it can sell ads against, YouTube has struck a first of its kind deal with Manchester City Football Club, the club best known for being the richest football club of the moment.
The deal will see Manchester City add original content to its YouTube channel in exchange for a piece of the ad revenue on the videos it will upload.
The club will upload all manner of content related to the team, footage from training sessions, interviews, behind-the-scenes stuff and so on.
There will be no actual match footage, since the club won't have rights to that. But the club's fans will have plenty to see and will mostly be exclusive content.
The club already has a team pumping out these kinds of videos that have been available on its official website so far. But the YouTube deal provides it with a much bigger audience and, potentially, a lot more revenue from advertising.
"We are excited that Manchester City has become the first English Premier League club to become a commercial partner with YouTube," Jeff Nathenson, head of Sports Partnerships at YouTube, said.
"They are proving to be an exciting club both on the pitch and in the digital media space. We believe this kind of deal will have a global impact, allowing them to reach new fans in new territories with compelling original content," he said.
YouTube ad money will probably be insignificant compared to what the club burns through in a year. What's more, its backers are willing to spend a lot more than what the club is making anyway.
"The ability to extend our reach and to increase accessibility to audiences is great, but we’re also looking forward to exploring the differentiating factors of YouTube, like using annotations, making bespoke interactive video and, more than anything else, becoming part of the thriving YouTube community," Richard Ayers, head of Digital for Manchester City, said.