Here are the top China sports business news stories you need to know from this week:
CSL Partners with Tmall and Shankai Sports
The Chinese Super League (CSL) has announced a partnership with Tmall, the Chinese e-commerce platform operated by Alibaba Group in a deal brokered by Chinese sports agency, Shankai Sports. Tmall will become the CSL’s official senior e-commerce partner for the next five years while Shankai Sports is now the exclusive licensed products operator. Read more on Sina (Chinese)
Mailman Take: Despite Nike's exclusive league-wide deal, only 5 of the 16 CSL team shirts are currently available via their online store. With the majority of CSL teams having typically struggled to monetise club merchandise, the T-mall deal presents an opportunity to develop additional revenue streams, particularly for clubs outside of the established tier 1 cities.
Spurs on Douyin
Tottenham Hotspur FC has become the first Premier League club to launch on Chinese short-form video platform Douyin. The London club will use the short-form video app, which has over 500 million registered users and generates more than one billion daily video views, by providing content such as skills, goals and behind-the-scenes footage to attract young Chinese fans to the club. Read more Sportspromedia (English) and Lanxiong Sports (Chinese)
Mailman Take: Douyin has exploded over the past year, becoming the sixth most downloaded app in the world in the first quarter of 2018 with MAU’s now topping 300 million. This marks the 9th European football club/organisation to launch on Douyin, with La Liga outfit Real Madrid leading the way having amassed more than 800,000 followers. Fans enjoy the unique video content provided by the clubs as well as the various editing options the platform offers.
Bayern Opens School in Northern China
German football club Bayern Munich has officially opened an international football school in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, China. It marks the third football school Bayern Munich have established in the country, following both Qingdao and Shenzhen. Read more on ECNS (English) and The Paper (Chinese)
Toutiao Partners with Sun Yang
Chinese digital news platform, Jinri Toutiao, has become the Official New Media Partner of Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, alongside another of its digital platforms, Douyin. Read more on The Paper (Chinese)
NFL Touches Down with Weibo
Weibo and the NFL jointly announced that Weibo will continue to be the official NFL China social media platform for the new season. The two parties will further consolidate and deepen strategic cooperation and relationships with the continued promotion of premium content and short form video. Read more on Titan24.com (Chinese)
RNG Sports Gaming Seals Guliduo Milk Deal
Guliduo Milk has become an Official Partner of Chinese esports team RNG. This news follows closely the recent announcement of their sponsorship deal with KFC. Read more on Woqu Game (Chinese)
Joeone Serves Up Shanghai Masters Partnership
The Chinese-based design company is now the designated suit provider for the 2018 Shanghai Masters (Snooker). Read more on China.org.cn (Chinese)
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