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Writer's pictureDenis Green

China Sports Business Weekly | 30th June


Hello Industry Friends, here is the very latest news and insights from China. 📰 Headlines: Shinai retains Wimbledon rights, UFC designs new national fitness competition, IMG adds Macau tournament, Douyin obtains 19th Asian Games rights, Ruoying Yin wins PGA Championship, consumers spend big at 618, Giannis heads to China, Zhang Zhilei set for rematch.

 

🗞️ Top Industry News Shinai Sports Retains Wimbledon Rights The Chinese media company has signed a two-year extension to its media rights deal for the grand slam. Shinai, which operates sports streaming platform iQiyi Sports, will hold exclusive digital rights in the mainland to Wimbledon for this year and next. Read more on SportBusiness (English) and China.com (Chinese) 💡 Mailman Take: Shinai Sports has positioned itself as the Home of Tennis in China, landing media rights to all of the Grand Slams. Wimbledon is set to feature some of China’s young, promising prospects, meaning viewership in the mainland is set to be high. If any of these youngsters can reach the latter stages, expect record viewership numbers and high engagement on social.


 

UFC Designs New National Fitness Competition The world’s leading MMA organisation has expanded its presence in China by signing up to help the country’s physical fitness drive, and is to create a new national competition in the process. UFC will work with its broadcast partner Migu, a subsidiary of China Mobile, as well as China’s Leisure Sports Administrative Centre to host fitness competitions inspired by mixed martial arts. Read more on SCMP (English) and China Youth Daily (Chinese) 💡 Mailman Take: The UFC continues to deepen and strengthen its relationship with China’s key policies and sports committees. The country’s fitness policy has become a major focus for China’s top decision-makers, and many prominent brands and platforms have been keen to get involved. UFC, along with the NBA, have been the two leading global sports organisations supporting this health and fitness boost.


 

IMG Adds Macau Tournament to Asian Tennis Offering IMG will work with MGM China Holdings Limited to launch a new invitational tennis tournament in Macau. The MGM Macau Tennis Masters will debut on December 2-3 at the Macau East Asian Games Dome, the largest indoor sports facility in the region. Read more on SportBusiness (English) and Sina (Chinese) Douyin Obtains Rights to Broadcast 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou The short video platform has secured the rights to broadcast the upcoming 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou. The platform will collaborate with CCTV, becoming an official broadcaster and live stream partner for the event. From September 23 to October 8, users of Douyin, Toutiao, and PICO platforms under the Douyin Group will have access to live broadcasts and replays of all the games. Read more on DAO (English) and China Daily (Chinese) 💡 Mailman Take: Douyin is becoming an increasingly stronger player in the sports media rights market, having previously won broadcast rights to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. We expect the ByteDance-owned short video platform to land more rights this summer and for the rest of the year, as it looks to grow its user base across more sports fans. Ruoning Yin Wins Women’s PGA Championship The world No. 25 from China rolled home her fourth birdie of the day on the 18th hole at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey to cap a bogey-free four-under 67 for the round and eight-under overall, one stroke ahead of Japan’s Yuka Saso. Read more on CNN (English) and CCTV.com (Chinese) 💡 Mailman Take: With Shanshan Feng having recently retired, China is on the lookout for its next female golf superstar, and they have found her. Ruoning Yin’s PGA win hit all the headlines and trended across social, bringing her directly into the public eye. Golf events are returning in force to China this year, and we expect to see Yin winning trophies back home as well as abroad. Chinese Consumers Spend $111bn on 618 Major e-commerce giants such as Tmall, JD.com, Douyin, and Pinduoduo collectively recorded a total gross merchandise volume over $111bn during the recent 618 shopping festival, according to third-party data provider Syntun. This year’s 618, which ran from May 31 to June 18, saw more activity than in previous years due to dates overlapping with the 20th anniversary of JD.com, Father’s Day and the Dragon Boat Festival. Read more on Jing Daily (English) and Sohu (Chinese) Official Roster for Hangzhou Asian Games Esports Events Unveiled Five coaches and 31 athletes will represent China at six esports events during the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games. According to Chinese national esports team, a selection process was conducted from March 30 to June 9. A total of 27 coaches and 125 athletes applied. Read more on Global Times (English) and China.com (Chinese) Giannis Antetokounmpo Will Debut New Nike Shoe in China Nike will send the NBA star on an international tour this summer. In a short video posted to social media, Antetokoumpo confirmed that he will tour China from July 5-9. Read more on SI (English) and NetEase (Chinese) Zhang Zhilei to face Rematch with Britain's Joyce China's WBO interim heavyweight champion will fight against British boxer Joe Joyce again in London on Sept 23. Zhang, nicknamed Big Bang, defeated Joyce with a sixth-round technical knockout in London this April, snatching the WBO interim title from his then-undefeated opponent. Read more on China Daily (English) and Sohu (Chinese) Anta Celebrates World Skateboard Day in Chengdu and Xiamen For World Skateboarding Day, the Chinese sportswear brand seized the opportunity to host an offline event of its own: the Anta Skate Marathon. Taking place simultaneously in the cities of Chengdu and Xiamen, this friendly competition pitched skateboarders against an elite team of runners in 10 km and 30 km races. Read more DAO (English)

 

🤔 Opinion Will ChatGPT and AI Reignite China’s Metaverse? With tech giants like Meta shuttering their metaverse divisions in favor of AI efforts - despite arguing that the metaverse will remain its primary product - spectators are convinced that the previously feted virtual ecosystem has been knocked off its internet throne by the AI gold rush. Read more on Jing Daily (English)

 

🎮 Esports Audi Partners With China Gold to Reward Chinese Players at Road to Asian Games The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF) held the opening ceremony for Asian national esports competition – Road to Asian Games. During the opening of the event, automobile manufacturer Audi awarded silver rings to five Chinese League of Legends and Honor of Kings players. Read more on Esports Advocate (English) and Sohu (Chinese)

 

Mailman is China’s leading sports digital agency. We exist at the intersection of digital & sports. We help top sports organisations & brands to build sustainable businesses in China, one of the world's most challenging markets. Mailman is part of the Endeavor network. Learn more about our story here.

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