Tencent Sports discussed the idea of “Internet + Sports” at the highly anticipated Sports Matters conference on September 16th 2015.
Connect All with Sports: Exploring the New “Internet+ Sports” Ecosystem
Sports Matters aims to building a healthy and sustainable sports industry in Asia with elites around world. As a top-flight Chinese Internet company, Tencent was invited to share in the conference its input on China’s sports industry in the era of mobile Internet.
“We hope the Internet can be connected with sports events
rvices and personal fitness management,” said Yuefeng Xie (sam), General Manager of Marketing and Business Development of Tencent Sports. “The idea of sports can be deepened and widened under the concept of ‘Internet+.’ By developing a full range of live events, interviews with stars, community building, themed games as well as online payment, it is possible to form a complete ‘Internet+sports’ ecosystem.”
Tencent has already laid the groundwork by acquiring the media rights to numerous sports events in 2015. Not only has Tencent become China’s only digital partner for the next five NBA seasons, but it has also partnered with the Premier League, Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League, NFL and other major international sports events. In the meantime, in order to bring new content to fans, Tencent Sports has also launched NBA Miracles, Rise Beyond and Superstars among an array of self-produced shows.
As for social interaction, Tencent Sports is persistently working to build and enrich the sports community in China. Recently, the official Arsenal community has been launched. In addition, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard and other NBA stars have joined Tencent Sports communities as “circle masters” for their respective teams. Tencent Sports continues to increase user loyalty with its superior resources and strong social genes.
In this regard, Xie described the vision of Tencent Sports: “In our vision, you will be able to watch the world’s most influential live events, such as the NBA, Premier League and UEFA Champions League, and post comments and interact with other Internet users. Above all, we want to build a platform through which all sports are connected under the concept of ‘Internet+’, achieving online and offline interconnectivity.”
Users will be able to make appointments directly with their fitness trainers, get hold of people with common interests online and place orders in real time to book basketball courts before making online payments. In the meantime, Tencent Sports will provide big-data-based services for individualized health and recreational management.
“To realize ‘Internet+’ ecosystem integration, we will connect sports to individual, daily sports activities,” stated Xie.
Winning with Global Partners in China’s Sports Market
The Chinese government has put the sports industry at the forefront of the nation’s development scheme. In October 2014, the State Council, or China’s Cabinet, issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Sports Industry and Promoting Consumer Spending on Sports, setting out that China’s sports population is expected to reach 500 million and the sports industry to be worth five trillion yuan by 2025.
It is within this context that business giants including Tencent, Alibaba, Wanda Group and LeTV Sports are racing to prepare for the rapid growth of China’s sports industry over the next decade. In this hyper-competitive market, Tencent has always been in the lead, continuingly expanding in the domestic market and ggressively developing its overseas resources.
“China’s per capita GDP already reached 7,575 US dollars last year, suggesting that it has entered a new stage of economic development. However, the sports industry accounted for only 0.6% of China’s GDP, far below the global average of 2%, which means that China’s sports industry is about to take off,” said Xie. “We hope to work with our worldwide partners to increase the influence of sports and promote its commercialization in China, achieving a win-win situation for all.”
Since the beginning of September, Tencent Sports has been a regular presence at international exhibitions. Just earlier this month, Tencent attended the Soccerex Global Convention held in Manchester, England. Soccerex is well known as a leading platform converging industry standouts including suppliers, manufacturers and buyers from the world of soccer.
By making an appearance at Sports Matters, Tencen Sports once again acquired an opportunity to trade insights with global business leaders and to make the voice heard in the affair of sports media rights.
In possession of top-level sports rights, strong community platforms and proven operational capacities, Tencent Sports will keep racing forward with respects to the innovation of live broadcast and contents operation and never cease the steps to the ultimate goal of connecting everyone in need of sports.
Taken from PR Newswire