NBA China seals 15 sponsorship deals

NBA China announced that it has inked sponsorship deals with a total of 15 different brands by the end of last week in 2015, according to Jiemian, a blooming news platform in China. 

Statistics show that more than 690 million unique audiences watched NBA games on TV last season, which is more than half of the total population in China. In addition to that, an average of 4 million viewers watched each game in the 2015 NBA finals on Sina.com, one of the major internet service companies in China. 

After over 30 years’ development in China, NBA has become the most popular professional sport league in China with the largest fan base on Chinese social media, such as Weibo and WeChat. The league sees more than 100 million followers on Chinese social media and 173 players in NBA have opened their individual accounts on Weibo. 

All those figures indicate that the league has recovered from the dilemma caused by Yaoming and Yi Jianlian’s step-off from NBA and the rapid rise of CBA in China. 

NBA scheduled two preseason games in China this October, which will be presented by Tingyi Holding Corporation and supported by sponsors like Adidas, Gatorade, Harbin Beer, Tencent, ZTET, NBA2K, SAP and Mengniu Dairy etc. The two preseason games both matching up the Charlotte Hornets and the Los Angeles Clippers, will take place on October 11 at the Shenzhen Universiade Center. The second game, to be held on October 14, will be hosted at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai.

Source: Jiemian