The NBA’s Growth In Popularity In China & Taiwan
Walking through the streets of China, you’re likely to find Steph Curry’s face plastered on billboards wherever you walk. At the same time, Klay Thompson is one of the few NBA players to wear Chinese brand Anta on his feet. It is part of a ten-year $80 million deal. These are just two examples of the NBA’s growth in popularity in China alone. While previous years have seen the NBA claim that Seattle could become a prime candidate for expansion, in 2014, the organization began to turn its focus to expansion in Asia, and the continent has certainly seemed to welcome the NBA with open arms. We explore this growth further below.
The Initial Rumours
The rumors that initially spread regarding an expansion to Asia began, as mentioned before, in 2014. In March of that year, Adam Silver, the commissioner for the NBA, claimed that Asia could be the key factor in an international expansion of the tournament. Prior to 2014, NBA China only provided a small percentage of the NBA’s total income. However, this percentage was still an incredible $150million on average and even grew by around 10% in a single year prior to Silver’s claim. The growing revenue and potential behind such growth encouraged the NBA to turn their sights to Asia as a whole, and have since grown to have over 150 members of staff across a number of offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and beyond.
The Presence Of The NBA In Asia
With six offices around Asia across Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei and Mumbai, the physical presence across the Asian continent is worth paying attention to. There are over 170 employees in China alone, and another 50 or more across Asia. Taiwan is not only proud of the roots of NBA player Jeremy Lin, but this has led to the NBA being one of the most widely bet-on sports in the country. What’s more, some of the NBA’s greatest players tour here, and while there may be limited means to bet on some of the crowd favorites, the support is still there regardless. Kevin Durant, for example, toured China during summer and even planned to grace the NBA academy in India during the offseason. Of course, much-loved stars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry are making global trips annually, but with plenty of Asian stops along the way.
Is Technology To Blame?
Due to time zone differences between the USA and Asia, the audience within these countries will usually find themselves needing to watch games in the morning. However, distribution style has adapted within a number of Asian countries to keep viewership steadily climbing. Through mobile platforms, NBA games can be streamed from anywhere. As a result, this is making the entire process of accessing games far easier. Even with the blocks and limitations that China has placed on internet usage.
The NBA has fast become the number one followed league in China via online sources, specifically through Weibo. The NBA’s account on this social media platform has gained over 33 million followers since its conception in 2010 and with plenty of other tech giants, including Tencent, supporting the league, the boost certainly isn’t something to be overlooked. Through the use of social media and the backing of tech giants to encourage this distribution of the content, the NBA has rocketed to the top, sitting as China’s new favorite in terms of foreign sport.
What Could The Future Hold?
Despite an initial cutback in 2011 that nearly saw the globalization of the league brought to a standstill, the NBA fought back and are doing better than ever across China, Taiwan and the rest of Asia. The Philippines and Indonesia, in particular, are set to follow China’s lead, though they are still resting in the groundwork stages of doing so. However, it’s India that is truly set to make waves in the coming years.
With a population of over 1 billion and a surprisingly low median age of just 25, a boom in the basketball industry in this country is all a case of the right promotion and methods of accessing the league games. More time and effort into this region could see the NBA taking off in India, whether it’s through NBA professionals – China did this with Jeremy Lin and JianLian Yi – or the competitive nature of the Indian team against the Chinese in particular, time can only tell as to whether or not increased promotion will be enough to rocket the top spot.
The growth of the NBA within Asia, and China, in particular, has been undeniably immense. From the early days of just a single employee and very few viewers to the current hundreds of employees across Asia with plenty of viewers to work with, the reason for this incredible expansion could be one of many or a mix of them all. Increased promotion and encouragement alongside the simple influence of technology and social media have had an incredible effect on basketball in Asia, and only the future will tell whether or not the NBA will spread its wings beyond China.