Costly battle rages for World Cup content
Expanding Chinese fan base means more opportunities for profit
Content-oriented battles for the FIFA 2018 World Cup are underway in China, with major online streaming and media platforms each spending more than 100 million yuan ($15.77 million) for exclusive broadcasting rights of popular teams and the production of original sports programs.
Industry insiders said that those investments, in contrast to traditional ways to make profits by acquiring exclusive allmedia rights to the event, represent a new promising business model that combines sports with entertainment and intellectual property.
They said this new model will be able to tap into most of the event’s economic benefits, including an estimated 7 billion yuan in advertising revenue.
The FIFA 2018 World Cup is scheduled to kick off in Russia on June 14.
The NetEase Media Group recently signed a cooperation agreement with the German national soccer team, becoming the exclusive online media partner of the team in China, domestic news website yicai. com reported on Tuesday. NetEase secured cooperation with France’s national team in December.
The two agreements will give NetEase full access to the two teams’ training grounds, exclusive interviews with players, coaches and officials, and close interaction with sports superstars like Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud, NetEase Vice President Tian Hua told yicai.com.
Both teams are tournament favorites in the World Cup, Tian explained, stressing that the content strategy is “not too early.”
Tencent Sports had not responded to an interview request by the Global Times as of press time. But according to a plan it released in December, Tencent Sports will organize a new all-star team known as Penguin Team, with 11 superstar players from different countries and regions playing different positions based on an ongoing online vote results. Tencent will be the exclusive Chinese digital partner of those superstars with rights to interview them and make programs.
Online streaming platform iqiyi.com declined to disclose detailed plans for the World Cup, citing its upcoming IPO.
Industry insiders said that the major media platforms’ investments for the 2018 World Cup are “significantly larger” than the 2014 event in Brazil.
“Four years ago, the average spending was 50 million yuan each, now the number has already jumped to over 100 million yuan,” Wang Xinmiao, a Beijing-based marketing analyst, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
In December, State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) acquired the exclusive all-media rights for 2018 World Cup. The State-owned broadcaster has not announced
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