As part of a panel discussion at 2016Sportel Asia, which was held in Singapore last week, the landscape of sports content in China was discussed in depth by representatives from booming digital platforms.

Sam Li, director of Sina Sports’content acquisition, agreed that the industry is big enough for different business models to exist.And the large base of engaged audiences has provided Sina Sports with new opportunities to try out a subscription model when they feel it is needed.

"We’ve obviously looked at the subscription model in the past and we look at our fans," said Li.

"We’ve been around for 15 years and we have very loyal fans and a very large fan base- we have 20 million fans coming to our site on a daily basis. So we listen to them and what they want us to provide for them and that's interesting content, that’s live content, that’s non-live content and if we feel that the subscription model is something that we’re looking to, that’s something that we can definitely try somewhere down the road.”

"As part of our EPL deal with Super Sports, the subscription model is something we are piloting with them," Li continued.

As a leading sports media platform in China, Sina Sports has been providing quality sports content to Chinese audiences for years. With an experienced editorial team, Sina Sports has managed to further promote sports events for which they have acquired sub-licensed media rights. As regards the EPL, Sina Sports has been providing live coverage alongside VOD, news, pictures, post-match reports, special reports and Weibo posts after striking a one-year deal with Super Sports last year.

Besides their own editorial team and reporters, Sina Sports also signed up a range of soccer icons including Michael Owen, Eden Hazard, Carlo Ancelottiand Peter Schmeichel (who replaced Gary Neville this year) in order to engage Chinese audiences.

With the rise of new digital media, Sina Weibo has become an important platform for sports fans to interact online, giving Sina Sports an additional advantage.

Above all, the landscape of China’s sports content market is evolving and digital media platforms are likely to play more important roles in the near future. Despite a few eye-catching pricey broadcasting deals in recent years, quality content based on video coverage is what Chinese users are really looking for. That is something which paves the way for a practical subscription model in the Chinese sports market.

Proofread by John Devlin.