Italian soccer’s top-flight Serie A has become the first major European soccer league to partner with social news aggregation platform Reddit, as it looks to boost engagement with its worldwide fanbase.
Under the partnership, the league will share content, including behind-the-scenes insights, gameday experiences, match highlights, and key announcements on the existing Serie A 'subreddit' thread.
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The pair have said that while Serie A will play an active role in content sharing, the existing 'subreddit' will continue to be overseen by moderators to ensure its independence.
The league also plans to facilitate ‘ask me anything’ sessions on the platform featuring players, coaches, and league officials, while fans will also have the opportunity to participate in polls, contests, and other interactive initiatives designed to foster engagement.
Serie A chief executive Luigi De Siervo has said: “We are thrilled to start collaborating with Reddit and to be the first football league in the world to join this incredible platform.
“Reddit’s unique approach to sharing social news, entertainment, and forums fits perfectly with our philosophy of reaching out to Italian football fans through the most engaging and interactive ways possible.
“This partnership will allow us to bring Serie A even closer to our fans, wherever they are in the world.”
Reddit is becoming a big player within the sports industry due to its highly engaged user base and niche communities, or ‘subreddits,’ that focus on various leagues, teams, and players.
Threads discussing specific incidents and subjects have become a staple for those wishing to engage with other fans.
The new collaboration adds to Reddit’s portfolio of sports partnerships, which includes a combined deal with American football’s NFL, basketball’s NBA, baseball’s MLB, PGA Tour golf, and US stock car racing series Nascar.
Under that joint agreement, struck last year, the five US sports properties share content to Reddit’s sites, including video highlights, behind-the-scenes clips, question-and-answer sessions with players, and special content from major events such as the Super Bowl and NBA All-Star games, while advertisers on Reddit can show ads alongside video content posted by the leagues.
Reddit shares the revenue it gets from advertisers with the participating sports league.
Christine Wixted, head of sports content partnerships at Reddit, added: “Fans are joining in conversations and engaging. They’re spending more time, and they’re not just aimlessly scrolling through – people are really engaged.
“You really find an unduplicated audience on Reddit. A lot of people that come on to Reddit aren’t on TikTok or aren’t on X, so you really get to kind of reach that new fan base.”
