CBA League Is Number One

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.

"CBA League has been the most influential professional league in China, taking over the football CSL."
Beijing Youth Daily, 20 January 2009

Infront’s in-depth and varied role

The joint-venture between Infront and the CBA, which has now been running for four 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 role involves every aspect of promoting, marketing and developing the CBA League, including grass root programmes and player representation.

  • Marketing of all commercial rights
  • Technical development of CBA clubs
  • Upgrading of television production quality and distribution
  • Promotion of games
  • Raising international awareness of Chinese basketball
  • Development of the new media platform
  • Projects at youth and grassroots level
  • Player development and representation


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 national team success as well as more effective promotion of the sport at every level.

The 2009/2010 CBA League season will showcase a total of 309 games, played across 17 cities throughout China. The regular season runs from 19 December 2009 until 14 March 2010 followed by the most popular All Star Weekend on 20 and 21 March. The final rounds consisting of 37 games are scheduled to run from 24 March until 30 April 2010.

Raising popularity
According to CCTV-5, 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.  

Key achievements include:

  • Tremendous growth in television audiences, soaring to 421 million in 2006/2007.  The following year audience levels dropped to 346 million due to competition from pre-Olympic programming but speedily resumed to a record 596 million in 2008/2009.
  • The 2008/2009 season achieved a total broadcast time of 4,200 hours and a cumulative audience for live broadcasts of approximately 535 million - 21 national TV stations in China showed the events.
  • TV viewing for the 2009 All-Star Game weekend reached the highest levels to date at over 16 million. The 2009 CBA Finals accrued a cumulative audience of more than 31.5 million.
  • Exposure from new media further substantiates popularity — the 2009 CBA All-Star online ballot involved 3.5 million votes. The CBA website reached 65 million page views in January 2009 and is predicted to reach 900 million over the full year.
  • Stadium attendance is up, with 1.69 million spectators over the season (+ 70% compared to the previous season).