The New England Patriots have long been viewed as a team that epitomizes success within North American sports, and now the club has picked up another victory in Asia. Data from Chinese digital marketing firm Mailman shows the Patriots have emerged as the most popular NFL team in China.
Over the past 12 months, the Patriots’ official channel on Chinese social networking site Weibo has grown from 100,000 followers to exceed 500,000. The Pittsburgh Steelers (271,000 followers) are the next most-popular NFL club on the platform. According to Mailman’s research, the Patriots’ social media presence in China is growing quicker than that of many European football clubs such as Manchester United and FC Barcelona, as well as the majority of NBA teams.