Covid-19 lessons to digest ahead of Olympics
DAVID Beckman ( pictured right) has been a hit on China social media. Two of the world’s top sporting highlights are expected to fall within a year of each other owing to Covid19: the Summer Olympics, delayed from 2020, are still on for Tokyo this year, and the next Winter Olympics are scheduled to be held in Beijing in 2022. What can sports marketers looking to tap into the big China market learn from audience trends since the beginning of the pandemic a year ago?
Quite a bit, says Justin Tan, managing director of the Shanghai-headquartered sports digital agency Mailman, that counts the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association among its customers.
“Sports marketing professionals will look back at the pandemic as a pivotal moment in accelerating digitalisation of their businesses,” he said in an email interview. “This is definitely the case in China.”
Emerging new digital formats for sport properties and more time spent at home have presented new opportunities for brands and audiences to get connected, Tan said. Examples in China include bigger esports competitions such as League of Legends Worlds, as well as new original sports content developed specifically for digital media such as the Bundesliga club BVB’s online fan events through live streaming, the English Premier League Club Chelsea’s China Studio show which ties in elements from London with local content. There’s also the Badminton World Federation re-broadcast of their best historical matches for China digital broadcasts, Tan said. (Note: Mailman works with all four.)
More aggressive direct-to-consumer revenue models by the already-established NBA is expanding its media and sponsor-related business. In general, Tan said, the pandemic has generated health awareness that is “a positive for the overall status of the sports industry.
By and large, sports companies have avoided getting dragged into global geopolitical issues, Tan said.
“We believe that sports transcends politics. During the darkest days of Covid-19 in China, we saw an outpouring of support for Chinese from global sports stars, teams and organizations,” he noted.
“Football teams like PSG declared their support for Chinese communities affected by the pandemic with messages on their jerseys. Other organisations like the NBA and the New England Patriots donated medical supplies to Chinese hospitals. At the end of day, we also like to believe that sports makes our lives better. Our belief is that the Chinese passion for sports will continue to make the local market an attractive prospect for global sports organisations.”
Tan believes international sports organisations and athletes who have continued to invest resources in China have benefited through the pandemic year. The NBA, for instance, remains the most popular league, with its teams and players growing in popularity on Mailman’s annual “NBA Red Card” China digital performance index.
Among individual athletes, Cristiano Ronaldo, with more than 15 million total followers on Weibo and Kuaishou, is already the most popular international soccer player on Chinese digital media.
Similarly, David Beckham, with 8,8 million followers, provides original videos on Douyin, the short-form video platform owned by TikTok-parent ByteDance.
In addition, Chelsea has partnered with Weibo and became the first European soccer club to launch on Kuaishou, as did another English Premier League club Manchester City with Alipay, Tan said. In badminton, the Badminton World Federation is the fastest growing sports organisation on Weibo, owing to the creation of new original sports programming, Tan said.
“China continues to be an icon market,” he continued.
“What that means is that the greatest sports stars of our generation are very influential on China digital media. A poignant but relevant example would be Kobe Bryant. Despite his passing, he remains one of the most revered athletes in China.
“We saw interesting trends with newer sports competitions in China. The mixed martial arts competition Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC) had a stellar 2020, built around the emergence of a local Chinese champion Zhang Weili, the launch of a state-of-the-art, brick and mortar Performance Institute, and a synergistic tie up with the Chinese Olympic Committee.”
So how should companies tied to winter sports be planning ahead for the Winter Olympics to be held next year?
“It’s going to be a big moment for China and the sports industries in China. There is a lot of pride in hosting the Winter Olympics, and the general public and sports enthusiasts are expected to take a strong interest in winter sports during and after the competition. In fact, winter sports are already seeing strong growth with increasingly more active and bigger communities getting involved,” Tan said.
“New formats such as live streaming which combines content, education, peer advocacy, price . . .(+) promotions and product introductions are combining with e-commerce,” says Mailman’s Justin Tan.
Yet interest in winter sports is lower than in all-weather sports such as soccer and basketball.
“China needs better education in winter sports. A good example is the National Hockey League, which has built an app for ball hockey education that serves as a gateway for ice hockey,” he said.
“Great content goes a long way. Brands looking to get involved will do well to think about their content strategy in the lead up to the winter games and thereafter. Currently, the development of winter sports has been driven by communities of enthusiasts who organise themselves on social and digital platforms like Tencent’s WeChat.
“We expect this trend to continue. Brands should look to invest in the grassroots and local communities, including optimising their CRM strategy and community engagement tactics,” he suggested.
Last but not least, Tan emphasised the importance of live-streaming. “New formats such as live-streaming which combines content, education, peer advocacy, price promotions and product introductions are combining with e-commerce. This is a great retail format for companies as they look to grow awareness and convert audiences into customers,” he said. — Online.