A big success
Basketball is a big success story in China. Its men’s and women’s national teams are amongst the best in the world and the sport has the support of millions of fans.
The joint-venture between Infront and the CBA, which has now been running for five years, manages all commercial rights of the CBA League and clubs — a partnership that is proving the catalyst to realising the full potential of this vibrant league.
Infront’s in-depth and varied role
Infront’s role involves every aspect of promoting, marketing and developing the CBA League, including grass root programmes and player representation:
- Marketing of all commercial rights, including global media rights
- Technical development of CBA clubs
- Upgrades to television production quality and distribution, providing live TV signal and international sound for most games.
- Raising international awareness of Chinese basketball
- Development of the new media platform
- Projects at youth and grassroots level
Most popular in China
The CBA League is the undisputed premium property in basketball and one of China’s most popular team sports. Not only is the CBA League the fastest growing and most popular Chinese sports league, it is also the largest sports league in Asia. The future is bright as more young people are encouraged to take up basketball as a result of the national teams success as well as more effective promotion of the sport at every level.
The 2010/2011 CBA League season is showcasing a total of 272 games, with 17 participating clubs throughout China. The regular season runs from 12 December 2010 until 15 March 2011 and is followed by the most popular CBA All-Star Weekend from 18 to 20 March 2011. The playoffs will end on 29 April 2011. There are now 32 foreign players registered to play for CBA clubs - reflecting the growing appeal of the league and the calibre of players as a result.
Raising popularity
Basketball is now the most popular televised sport in China. The CBA League in particular is accruing tremendous popularity as the most fashionable, indigenous competition featured on Chinese television with every game being shown live across the country.
The 2009/2010 season achieved a total broadcast time of 3,500 hours and a cumulative audience of 436 million. The popular CBA All-Star Game, which was held on 20-21 March 2010 at the Wukesong Arena, Beijing, reached the highest levels to date at 44 million and the CBA Finals accrued a further cumulative audience of 31.5 million. Additional exposure from new media channels further substantiates the popularity of the league — the 2010 CBA All-Star online ballot hosted on the CBA website received a total of 1.26 million votes.
Building on last year’s success
For the 2010/2011 season, 20 television channels are broadcasting the CBA games across the country, with CCTV-5 featuring the opening game in Hangzhou and at least one other game from each round live. Other local channels are also broadcasting the home games of their regional teams live, whilst Netease.com – provider of the CBA League official website – is offering live coverage of 120 matches through its digital platform.
Synergy with Team China Basketball
As a result of Infront’s existing and parallel role with the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), there is a unique opportunity for broadcasters and sponsors to focus on Chinese basketball as a dynamic product and to take advantage of the synergy between Team China and the CBA League. This will help to put Chinese basketball on the world map and exploit its potential to the full - as a great way to reach Chinese consumers.
