Tyreek Hill of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates a touchdown by jumping into the stands and manning a TV camera on Nov. 11, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
The NFL has partnered with Alibaba-owned Youku to carry highlights, documentaries, and other shoulder programming in China.
Youku is a video sharing and streaming platform acquired by Alibaba in 2016. The site has reached other sports deals in the past, including major rights deals such as the digital broadcast of the 2018 World Cup and smaller agreements like carriage of the Pac-12 Network. Youku will now carry weekly NFL content, including productions from NFL Films and programming tied to major events such as the Super Bowl and the draft.
“We are excited to partner with Youku to bring localized NFL highlights and content to the NFL’s rapidly growing fan base across China,” said NFL China managing director Richard Young in a statement. “Youku’s popularity and high-quality production will provide our fans more access to NFL action every week.”
Live games remain exclusively available on Tencent, Alibaba’s chief competitor. The NFL first partnered with Alibaba in 2013. Since then, China’s largest consumer marketplace, Tmall, has hosted an official merchandise store for the league.
SportTechie Takeaway
In nearly a decade since China blocked access to YouTube, three leading video platforms have risen in its place: Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku. The WTA and PGA Tour are among those to partner with iQiyi. Tencent already carries NFL games—2018 is the second of a three-year deal—as well as MLB games and ESPN programming. This new agreement gives Youku a small piece of the NFL rights package as the site seeks to make sports a larger part of its offerings.
