Digital media change the sports reporting in China

With the popularity of smart devices, almost every fan reads sports news or watches events broadcast online. In the digital era, sports news calls for a real-time and on-site experience.  That’s why traditional media are losing their competitiveness in sports. 

With the introduction of digital media, traditional sports reporters face the risk of unemployment. In the last two years, Chinese network media giants like Netease, Sohu and Ifeng have made a number of sports reporting employees redundant. Indeed, the position of sports reporter no longer exists in Netease. Because they realise that, at present, everyone can be a sports reporter by utilising mobile devices and social media. That’s the realistic portrayal of “media are the extensions of man” raised by Marshall McLuhan 50 years ago.

Science and technology is giving full play to its power in the sports industry. For example, the Tencent Media Summit 2015 was marketed as the extension of man’s vision. This was highlighted by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which shot on-site photos and shared them with online friends. It is expected that in the near future, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will both play an important role in sports news sharing. In fact, after Tencent extended their digital partnership with NBA by five years, the Chinese internet company has started to improve users’ experience by officially using AR in the NBA live broadcasting this season.

Chinese media are pleased to see sports fans act as message senders, because this will make sports zones become the new frontiers for sports reporting. In other words, news agents could easily make content sharing real and improve users’ engagement by setting up a social media platform where users share their sports life, sports news and sports criticism.

The internet is not only changing the way we share sports news, but also the whole sports industry in China, with its wearable devices, virtual reality and smart home. According to a new media report by Tencent, 57.1% of Chinese people obtain information from Wechat, an instant massaging app. To a limited extent, a sports fan can already post news and get information on one social platform while sports service providers can deliver club updates or sports apparel marketing news in a data-based sports ecosystem.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Source: Netease

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