MANCHESTER, MUMBAI: Manchester City (Man City) has announced a new regional partnership with Jio Platforms Limited (Jio), that will see the digital services brand become the Club’s official mobile communications network partner in India. The partnership was enabled and supported by RISE Worldwide, a Reliance initiative, India’s largest sports and entertainment company.
Through this partnership, Man City and Jio will collaborate on a variety of experiences that fans will be able to access through Jio’s digital ecosystem comprising JioTV, MyJio, Jio STB, JioEngage and other applications and platforms, in addition to exclusive giveaways and in-market activities.
As part of the new agreement, Man City’s OTT platform CITY+ will be integrated into the JioTV platform, providing fans in India further access to exclusive club content including match highlights, live Manchester City Women’s team and elite development squad fixtures, match day content and City Studios documentaries. JioTV gives users access to over 900 channels in 16 languages across 12 genres, making it the second biggest OTT platform globally with over 350 million downloads, the company said.
In addition to the Jio brand featuring across the club’s in-stadia and digital assets, as part of the new deal, Jio’s associate brands RISE and Viacom18 will also leverage several partnership rights across their football and sports offerings.
Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd said, “We are excited to announce Jio’s exclusive partnership with Manchester City in India through which we will present City fans with experiences through a multitude of digitally powered immersive initiatives. We believe both brands share similar values of bringing transformational impact to their communities and through this partnership, we endeavour to bring the best of football to the sports communities and Man City fans in India.”
Ferran Soriano, chief executive officer, City Football Group, said, “We’re pleased to welcome Jio as an official partner of Manchester City today. The club has a passionate and growing fan base in India and we are continually exploring new ways to provide greater fan experiences for our followers in the region and around the globe, particularly within the digital and technology space. We look forward to working with Jio as we develop these opportunities throughout the partnership.”