The American NBA had been doing quite well in the Chinese market over the years since the entrance of Yeo Ming. While he’s come and gone the league is still enjoying strong penetration into the backcourt of the world’s largest market.
To that end, the league announced the signing of a new multi-year partnership with Chinese social media giant Weibo to bring game highlights and original programming to Chinese fans.
The agreement makes Weibo league’s official social media platform in China where Facebook and Twitter are still a no-no.
Weibo will deliver daily game highlights, interviews, photos and statistics, as well as live-streamed NBA events, and behind-the-scenes coverage.
Weibo and NBA China will also co-produce original NBA-themed programs to be shown on NBA China’s official accounts on Weibo and video-sharing platform Miaopai, including on the Weibo Sports and Weibo Basketball.
Weibo boasts = 313 million monthly active users at the end of December, with 90% of them coming from mobile terminals.
The official NBA account on Weibo has 32.78 million followers, and 30 NBA teams also have fans following their own accounts –adding up to an estimated 60 million fans.
