BEIJING: The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced Friday a multi-year partnership with Chinese digital content platform Migu. The agreement makes it the official partner of the NBA in China and marks its first partnership with a North American sports league.
Migu will deliver extensive NBA content to fans in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau such as daily game highlights, behind-the-scenes videos, original programming and classic games across its own as well as parent company China Mobile’s family of media brands. It will also carry the NBA’s 24/7 dedicated channel, NBA TV, on its platforms.
NBA and Migu will work together to explore new technologies to enhance the viewing experience, including 4K resolution and virtual reality. When it comes to grassroots development, they will also collaborate to grow the Jr. NBA – the league’s global youth basketball program for boys and girls in China.
The Chinese brand has become the largest library of legitimate digital content resources in the country, leading the full-scenes brand immersion platform there and converging more than 20 million songs, 4.6 million videos, 1,220 live broadcasts, 500,000 books, 32,000 games and 550,000 comics.
“We are thrilled to start our relationship with China Mobile, Migu and their various media platforms,” NBA China CEO Derek Chang said.
“This new partnership provides us with the opportunity to tap into Migu and China Mobile’s expansive reach and help us continue to grow the game of basketball in China.”
“The co-operation between Migu and the NBA is China Mobile’s important step to increase the cooperation with top international content companies and jointly create a high-quality content platform with them,” China Mobile Communications VP Qin Jian said.
“The NBA is one of the most popular sports leagues in China and has connected with Chinese fans through the game of basketball for 40 years. We believe that we can leverage each other’s advantages in premium content production and media operations to bring a higher-quality experience to millions of domestic users.”
The partnership also allows Migu to design and sell NBA and Migu co-branded lifestyle merchandise available to fans on China Mobile and Migu’s platforms. Additionally, it also becomes the official marketing partner of the NBA China Games.
This development comes weeks after NBA confirming its partnership with ByteDance, one of the industry leaders in China to deliver short-form sports and entertainment content. The league has upped its efforts to expand in the country by opening the world’s first NBA centre in Tianjin earlier this year.
