The 2016 Chinese Super League (CSL) season kicked off last Friday with a match between Guangzhou R&F and recently-promoted Hebei China Fortune at the Yuexiushan Stadium.

As stated by several Chinese sources, the new media broadcast has already shown its power to increase the CSL viewership in the first round. According to a recent report by Le Sports, the current internet rights holder of the CSL, a record-breaking 16.6 million viewers watched the opening game online.

It is safe to say that the 2016 CSL viewership in the new media outlets is going to exceed 500 million, which is significantly more than the 400 million viewers for the 2015 season.

A better experience is one reason why CSL fans have diverted their attention to internet outlets. To adapt to different viewing requirements, Chinese broadcasters have even launched dialect commentaries during CSL live broadcasts.

Source: Netease

Proofread by John Devlin.