How can domestic event IP solve the profit dilemma due to lack of money, team and system?

China companies have successively stepped in overseas sports markets, bringing the investment boom in the sports industry to a new height again, but it has also left the domestic sports market, which already lacks IP for well-known events, in the cold. For a long time, lack of money, team, and system have become a lingering nightmare of domestic event IP. However, the domestic situation of "nine difficulties in making profits in ten games" has never been curbed. A large number of domestic sports companies have lost their original blood-making functions, and the rise of the sports industry is still a drop in the bucket.

Original title: The capital boom is difficult to break the profit dilemma of local event IP.

China companies have successively stepped out in the overseas sports market, bringing the investment boom in the sports industry to a new height again, but it has also caused the domestic sports market, which already lacks the IP of well-known events, to be ignored. For a long time, lack of money, team, and system have become a lingering nightmare of domestic event IP. However, the domestic situation of "nine difficulties in making profits in ten games" has never been curbed. A large number of domestic sports companies have lost their original blood-making functions, and the rise of the sports industry is still a drop in the bucket.

Half sea water and half flame

China's global spending has not made the IP profits of domestic events optimistic. As one of the well-known events IPs in China, the China Tennis Open (hereinafter referred to as "China Open") has been held for 12 years. Wu Peihua, chairman of China Open, recently publicly stated that China Open is the most well-known local event IP in China except the China Men's Professional Basketball League (hereinafter referred to as "CBA") and the China Football Super League (hereinafter referred to as "Super League"). However, this event was also profitable through 12 years of hard work. "I recall that the China Open once opened at the Beijing Guangcai Tennis Center (the original competition venue of the China Open). The organizers had to pay to hire people to watch the game. Many uncles and aunties in the audience even watched the game while choosing dishes at the venue."

Like the former China Network, there are still many domestic event IPs that are struggling to support and there is no day of profit. Statistics show that there are almost no sustainably profitable events in my country, including the IP of events with a strong commercial atmosphere such as the South American Super Derby Cup, as well as marathon events in non-competition industries in China's sports industry. According to industry insiders, last year, only more than 10 of the 134 marathon events held nationwide achieved final profits.

The sports event IP market presents a situation of "half sea water and half flame". Domestic event IP has no hope of profit, but China companies are proud of themselves in the foreign sports market. Many domestic companies, including Wanda, Alibaba, Tencent, Suning, LeTV, etc., have stepped in to purchase IP broadcasting rights for foreign events, or invest in foreign football clubs, or directly wholly acquire IP of well-known foreign events.

There

are many reasons behind the difficulty of domestic event IP solving the profit dilemma. The main reason is that domestic independent IP is limited, which in turn has caused a large number of China companies to purchase event IP at high prices abroad and lack the enthusiasm to create independent event IP. At the same time, limited event IPs are still making efforts in copyright development, the main channel for profit. A large number of self-owned event IPs lack effective marketing methods to increase copyright revenue, creating an embarrassing situation where "a clever woman cannot make a meal without rice".

According to an industry insider who declined to be named, the domestic sports industry is still in the early stages of development, and commercial operations such as copyright development, advertising sponsorship, and peripheral product development are still very weak. It is still too early to talk about profitability based on this current situation. The source said that since the State Council issued Document No. 46 in 2014 to encourage the development of the sports industry, in addition to giants laying out the sports market, more and more private capital has also begun to set foot in the creation and hosting of events, including popular ball games such as basketball, football, and table tennis. However, when such events first entered the market, they have low visibility, and it is difficult to obtain higher income returns. There are even many events that have to spend money to find TV stations to broadcast them in order to gain more brand exposure, but you should know, Mature sports event IP revenue has the highest proportion of copyright broadcasting rights revenue. Under this model, sports event IP profit is a fantasy.

Learn from others and develop skills to

improve self-reliance. In fact, a complete set of revenue channels has long been formed in the IP operation of mature sports events abroad. The entire industrial chain can be divided into sports assets, sports media, sponsors, sports venues, sports licensed commodities, sports marketing and brokerage companies, etc., including the professional teams, players, sponsors, licensed products, venues, copyrights, etc. participating in the event, all have a lot of benefits to gain.

Statistics show that the four major U.S. leagues made a total profit of US$26 billion last year, including US$9.6 billion for football, US$7.9 billion for baseball, US$4.8 billion for basketball, and US$3.7 billion for ice hockey.

In fact, referring to the profit model of sports event IP in developed countries such as Europe and the United States, my country's event IP, which started early and accelerated, is also accelerating its profits. Among them, copyright and advertising sponsorship have become the first areas for event owners to make efforts.

Among them, the main channel for ChinaNet to obtain revenue is advertising sponsorship. Statistics show that last year, ChinaNet attracted 12 sponsors to join, including 1 chief sponsor, 3 diamond sponsors, and 8 platinum sponsors. For the first time, achieving the "1+3+8" top sponsor ratio, revenue from sponsors alone reached 139 million yuan. In terms of copyright, in September last year, Sports Olympic Power acquired the copyright of Super League events for a high price of 8 billion yuan over five years. Subsequently, in February this year, LeSports purchased exclusive new media broadcasting rights for Super League events for 2.7 billion yuan. Li Yidong, executive director of Sports Olympic Power, said that the higher the level of sports events, the higher the level of attention they receive, the greater their commercial value, and the greater the value of copyright ownership. As new media platforms make events more diverse and rich, and fans 'viewing experience becomes more diversified and interactive, there is still much room for improvement in the copyright value of the Super League as the Super League events improve.

Editor: yvette