The Unicorn Company in Chinese Sports Market

PRESS RELEASE 10.06.15

LETV PRESENTATION

« THE UNICORN COMPANY IN CHINESE SPORTS MARKET: UNDERSTANDING THE MODEL OF LETV SPORTS »

Monday 12 October – 15:15 – 16:00

SPORTEL is the must-attend convention for the sports media industry leaders. For the 2015 edition, SPORTEL is proud to welcome LETV Sports, the only Chinese company who target itself as a sport marketing company rather than a media plateform only.

During the past year, the sports industry in China, particularly the sports companies, has been changing significantly. Many would be surprised to witness LETV Sports coming from nowhere to become the unicorn company, valued at 3 billion USD. But, who is LETV Sports? What is its plan?

LETV Sports was part of LETV Group and runs as an independent sports company since the beginning of 2014. LETV Group is one of the leading video internet companies in China. The main businesses of LETV include online video providing, filmmaking, consuming electronics, applications, e-commerce and agriculture.

Supported by the strong LETV Group, LETV Sports is the fastest growing sports company in China. LETV Sports is composed of four key sections: content, event management, smart hardware, value- added service.

In terms of content, LETV Sports holds almost all the important media rights in the market, ranging from football, basketball, tennis, badminton, fighting, cycling, marathon to Formula 1 and golf. In particular, Chinese fans can get access to all the top class football matches on various LETV Sports platforms (PC, Phone, Pad, Smart TV). LETV holds the live streaming rights of UEFA Champions League, Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, Chinese Super League, J-League, K-League, A-League, MLS, Copa America etc. And the recent acquisition of English Premier League media rights in Hong Kong territory showed LETV’s ambition in the overseas market.

LETV Sports’ various platforms are the best guarantee of its content distribution and penetration: Apart from its official website, its apps on mobile devices, it also has the broadcasting terminals on the self-produced and self-branded OTT box, the smart Super TV and the smart Super Phone.

Regarding event management, LETV Sports is providing comprehensive services, including ticketing, marketing, sponsorship, media rights, hospitality and merchandise. The operation of International Championship Cup China epitomizes LETV Sports’ ambition and ability. In July 2015, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan played three matches in China, which was organized and operated by LETV Sports. Also, LETV Sports is the exclusive operation partner of Chinese Women Super League.

Concerning smart hardware, LETV Sports shows its strength as a leading technology company. LETV Group has already launched Smart Super TV and Super Smartphone. In September, LETV Smart Bicycle offered sporting fans the smart era bicycle combined with latest technology and brilliant appearance. Moreover, LETV Sports will launch several self-branded smart hardware such as personal camera and exercise equipment. As for value-added service, LETV Sports is creating Lottery, E-commerce, O2O training services to our sports-driven fans, which highlights the mission of LETV Sports: Keep changing the sports lifestyle.

In May 2015, LETV Sports announced the Round A funding result. Wanda Group's Wang Jianlin and an investment firm founded by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Jack Ma took part in the Round A funding for LETV Sports. These investments not only guarantee LETV Sports’ cash flow, but also the valuable resource: Wanda Group is the owner of Infront Sports & Media, and Alibaba is the biggest B2B & B2C platform in China. Recently, LETV Sports is in the Round B funding process, with market value estimated to be USD 3 billion.

In the fast growing process, LETV is also facing the challenges—few fans choose to pay for sports content, and few companies ask fans to pay. Nobody can give an answer to the question that how long China will establish a mature Pay-Tv/Pay-per-view sports media market. However, opportunities are definitely existing in this awaken sports giant country.

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Press Contact: Virginie ZEGHDAR, Manager – [email protected] +377 93 30 41 38 Eva PATTIER, Assistant – [email protected] +377 93 30 60 64