‘Asia has such great potential because every country is unique’

What are the current opportunities for the sports broadcast sector in Asia?
There are great opportunities for all types of sports to enhance their fan base across Asia. Each country in Asia offers its own challenges and opportunities. For sure direct to consumer and fan engagement themes continue to grow in importance for our members.

Is it fair to say that the pace of change in the media marketplace is most pronounced in Asia at this juncture?
The evolution of the international sports media and technology industry is moving faster than ever before. Technology and the needs of the consumer are changing, therefore the industry needs to change with it and so does SPORTEL, which we are committed to doing.

How has SPORTELAsia adapted the structure and content of this year’s spring edition of the global sports media convention so as to be in tune with developments specific to Asia? 
We have developed more tailor-made solutions for our participants to invest in to drive their return on investment from SPORTELAsia 2019. We have also dedicated two conference programme events to best practise and future trends of esports, which is a SPORTEL first. Lastly, we will have a number of European football clubs speaking about their China expansion plans, which I am sure will be very interesting.

As per SportzPower’s assessment, football (from the traditional sport arena), MMA and esports / gaming are the biggest sports plays when examined from a pan-Asian perspective. How do you view the scenario? 
The sports that you have identified are very popular across Asia-Pacific, but I believe there are many more. Sports like basketball, table tennis, badminton are also very popular in specific territories of Asia. This is why Asia has such great potential because every country is unique and companies that want to be successful across multiple markets in Asia need to under stand and work with local culture and business practises.

South East Asia has long been your key target area for SPORTEL’s spring edition. Have you ever considered India as a destination for your spring summit. And if not, why is that?
It is true that we have had a few successful SPORTEL Spring Conventions in Singapore over the years, as Singapore is a popular choice for our community to do business in Asia. We have also been to Miami in 2015 and 2017, which were also great occasions. The venue of our Spring Conventions is decided by our community every year through an online survey. We are currently running our 2020 survey and will go where our community vote to go. This is a SPORTEL tradition and one of the unique aspects of our SPORTEL SpringConvention.

Last year, 646 participants representing 310 companies from 43 countries made their way to Singapore for the 2018 edition of SPORTELAsia. How is it looking so far vis-a-vis this year’s Macau edition? 
At this point in time, we are still one week away from the start of the convention, so I do not have the final numbers for comparison. I do know that we are very happy with the quality of delegates confirmed, as we have leaders from across the globe registered to participate in sharing knowledge and doing business at SPORTELAsia 2019.