According to an official press release on the official website of the National Football League (NFL), the NFL has entered a strategic partnership agreement with Sina Weibo. This partnership was announced soon after NFL appointed a Chinese entertainment star William Chan as its ambassador in China.
The press release said that, in addition to the six (6) regular season games streamed the past couple weekends, Sina Weibo will livestream in China the final Sunday Night Football game in Week 17, three (3) playoff games and the Super Bowl.
"We are glad to launch this strategic partnership with the NFL," said Zhang Zhe, head of Sina Weibo Sports. "We look forward to helping the NFL grow their Chinese market and explore more commercial opportunities, while also providing our Weibo users with a better opportunity to watch and quickly share LIVE games and highlights. We strongly believe that social media is a core platform to promote and consume domestic and international sports events. Sports + Social will become a key industry driver."
"Sina Weibo is an excellent partner for the NFL as we engage fans across the Chinese Mainland. We are excited about working with Sina Weibo to stream NFL games to millions of fans. We're confident this will be a valuable long-term partnership for the NFL and our sponsors in China," said Richard Young, NFL China Managing Director.
Sina Weibo is one of the most popular social media site in China. It says it has 132 million daily active users (DAU), 297 million monthly active users (MAU) and an average of 100 million messages posted each day.
In addition to live streaming NFL games, Sina will also have rights to non-game video-on-demand (VOD) clips, highlights, and other NFL video content, including Top 10 performances of the week, Top 5 Runs and Catches, etc., according to the press release.
Source: NFL