433, a legitimate football focused social media powerhouse with over 16 million followers, has signed a strategic partnership with the esports arm of Ducth football club Ajax.
Ajax eSports, which has maintained a presence in esports by way of FIFA for two years and counting, has signed this partnership with one of the world’s leading online football communities.
433’s audience consist primarily of ‘the younger generation’ for whom FIFA is a rather popular, and esports more widely too. FIFA related content is prominent on 433’s social media channels, and the outfit’s second biggest Instagram account is 433FIFA with 1.6 million followers.
433 is the largest football community on social media. Over 16 million people follow 433, of which reportedly ‘at least 14,000 are professional footballers from the top 50 leagues in the world’. 433’s influence and reach has seen the firm work with the likes of Adidas, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Hilton. 433 generates 1.6 billion impressions on a monthly basis, and receives an estimated 675 million views on Instagram.
Juul Manders, CEO of 433 commented: “433 and Ajax eSports are revolutionary entities both dedicated to leading their respective markets in the Netherlands and worldwide. Becoming strategic partners with Ajax eSports will enable us to further assert ourselves in a dynamic and rapidly growing industry. Combining our young audience and Ajax eSports’ talent will produce innovation and promising results for years to come.”
Mirroring the club’s success on the real life pitch, Ajax eSports became champion of the Dutch eDivisie last year as well. The team also announced a new signing this week, in the form of American FIFA pro Joey Calabro, who is currently the number one in the world on Xbox. He previously played for New York City FC.
Menno Geelen, Commercial Director of Ajax stated: “We noticed the content consumption of the new generation is different. 433 is unique in knowing how to reach this generation football fans as none other online community. With Ajax we do have the ambition to become the best football club of the world in FIFA eSports. Both regarding the best performances and engagement of our FIFA-fans through unique content. This cooperation emphasized our international goals with our eSports domain.”
This marks 433’s first partner in the esports field, the two will ‘collaborate to develop innovative concepts that engage fans through live streams and activations’.
Esports Insider says: 433’s reach in the world of football is staggering, and if they’re able to mirror this then Ajax eSports has made an undoubtedly smart move from which it’ll bolster potential sponsorships and more going forward.