Healthy prospects
Rising participation levels contribute to booming sports industry
With China’s sports industry continuing to show staggering growth, all the indicators suggest the sector’s expansion is a healthy development for both the economy and the nation’s physical well-being.
“During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), the development of our sports industry has made historic breakthroughs. The market scales have been growing dramatically, and the industrial structure has been optimized,” said Li Yingchuan, a deputy director of the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC), during the China Sports Industry Summit in Shanghai last month.
“The Chinese sports industry now has fresh dynamics, and the emergence of new platforms is raising the bar. The foundation of the industry has reached a new level and the management of the sector is more efficient.
“So the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) will be very important to achieve high-quality development to ensure the sports industry is a pillar of national economic growth.”
Li stressed that, during the next five years, the growth of the sports industry will be characterized by several major changes — the influence of a new generation of technology, including 5G; increased facilitation of sports consumption; the growth of the outdoor sports sector; and an increased emphasis on consumer services.
The GASC and the National Bureau of Statistics jointly announced in late 2020 that sports-related businesses in China generated around 1.12 trillion yuan (about $173 billion) in revenue in 2019 — up 11.6 percent from 2018 — contributing to a total industry value of over 2.94 trillion yuan. Total output was 10.9 percent higher than in 2018.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the sports world to hit the pause button, putting huge financial pressure on leagues, clubs and sporting organizations around the globe.
Thanks to China’s successful control of the pandemic, professional sports and mass fitness events have gradually returned to everyday life.
Soccer’s Chinese Super League was forced to temporarily shut down in February 2020, but returned five months later with behind-closed-doors matches in bio-secure bubbles in Suzhou, Jiangsu province and Dalian, Liaoning province.
Safety was, and remains, a top priority for the league’s organizer, the Chinese Football Association, with comprehensive epidemic prevention measures implemented in both host cities.
Players, coaches, referees and key staff members were kept in strict lockdown zones and faced frequent medical checks. With not even a single infection to report by the end of season, the CFA can be proud of its efforts.
A spike in viewing figures came as a bonus. According to the CSL, the average viewership for each of the league’s 160 matches in 2020 was 7.74 million, 16.6 percent higher than the 2019 season.
“The COVID-19 pandemic brought huge challenges to the world’s sports market, but it also brought changes and new trends,” said Bao Mingxiao, professor of Beijing Sport University, during the sports industry summit in Shanghai.
“Under these new conditions, development should be focused on the strategic target of making China a sports powerhouse.”
Fitter future
A major factor in China’s booming sports industry is the growing number of people who are embracing exercise and fitness as a lifestyle choice.
According to a China sports market report published at May’s China Sports Development Forum in Beijing, the Chinese fitness market was valued at 111 billion yuan in 2019.
The growth can also be traced back to the National Fitness Program for 2016-2020, which aims to encourage 700 million people to take part in physical exercise at least once a week.
The mass participation in fitness also requires local sports departments to continuously level up the quality of facilities and related services.
According to 2019 data from the Shanghai sports bureau, 43.7 percent of the city’s population regularly participate in sports activities. Shanghai’s total sports industry was valued at over 178 billion yuan in 2019, growing at an average rate of 18 percent since 2014.
In neighboring Zhejiang, official data showed that about 42 percent of the province’s population regularly participates in sports. Zhejiang is also home to 11 national sports industry bases, with its sports industry valued at 261.5 billion yuan and comprised of over 36,000 companies.
Hubei province invested 560 million yuan over three years in its fitness services, attracting a further investment of 3 billion yuan to build over 1,000 new projects in the sector by the end of 2020. The number of people who regularly participate in sports in Hubei has grown from 16 million to 19 million over the past five years.
“Sports can be an indicator of a nation’s overall strength, and sports development is closely connected to a country’s overall development. Zhejiang’s sports sector has experienced tremendous development along with social and economic growth,” said Zheng Yao, the director of Zhejiang Sports Bureau.
Changing habits
The COVID-19 pandemic changed people’s fitness habits in 2020, with many reluctant to go to the gym or facing quarantine at home. The public’s passion for exercise, however, did not wane, with many making their home a gym, following online fitness courses or buying smart devices and playing fitness video games to keep moving.
According to the China sports market report published at the China Sports Development Forum last month, about 21 percent of fitness lovers in China started their daily exercise routine at home in 2020. Instead of exercising at indoor gyms, another 42 percent of people chose parks.
The GASC also began promoting scientific exercise. A series of online fitness courses and indoor activities have been organized across China, attracting tens of millions of participants throughout last year.
Rise of e-sports
The Chinese e-sports industry has experienced dramatic growth in recent years. With more and more elite Chinese gamers and clubs winning titles at major international tournaments, the market value of the sector is skyrocketing.
Chinese e-sports made global headlines again in May when the Royal Never Give Up club won the world title by defeating South Korea’s DWG KIA in the final of the League of Legends 2021 MidSeason Invitational in Reykjavik, Iceland.
It was the second time RNG lifted the MSI trophy, having bagged its maiden title in 2018.
In addition, Chinese clubs Invictus Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix won the League of Legends World Championship, in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
“In China’s League of Legends Pro League, there are many more strong teams that are just as competitive as us,” said RNG player Li Yuanhao, aka Xiaohu, after his team’s victory in the Icelandic capital.
According to the 2020 Global E-sports Development Report published by Tencent E-sports and Penguin Intelligence, the total number of Chinese gamers and fans reached 400 million by the end of 2020, representing a 14.3 percent annual growth rate. The Chinese e-sports market was valued at 13.8 billion yuan ($2 billion) in 2019.
The e-sports sector is also providing a huge number of job opportunities in China, with game designers, tournament operatives, club managers and commentators in hot demand.
The 2020 Global E-sports Development Report estimated there are currently only about 50,000 people working in the industry in China, with about 500,000 vacancies waiting to be filled.
Moreover, the gaming industry has shown strong resilience in 2020, when most sports leagues and tournaments were postponed or canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last November’s League of Legends World Championship in Shanghai, for example, was the first international sports event held in China since the pandemic began.
According to the event organizer, the final of that championship had an average online audience of 23 million viewers per minute, and at one time peaked at over 45 million viewers.
The inclusion of e-sports at major sporting events has been a much-discussed topic in recent years. E-sports will debut as a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
E-sports joined the Asian Games for the first time as a demonstration sport at the 2018 edition in Indonesia, where China won two gold medals and a silver.