Jiang Nanchun invested nearly 2 billion yuan in half a year and squeezed into the sports ecosystem to gain insight into Focus Media's business experience

In 2016, in addition to LeSports, Wanda Sports, and Alibaba Sports, which aggressively deployed the sports industry, various capitals were also lonely and were all building their own platforms and closed-loop sports industry. Jiang Nanchun, who had just successfully returned to A, invested nearly 2 billion yuan in half a year to squeeze into the Internet sports ecosystem.

Original title: Jiang Nanchun led the investment of Hero Sports with 300 million yuan and invested 2 billion yuan in Focus Media's business in half a year. Jiang

Nanchun is using Focus's media price platform advantages to integrate content, and is building his own operating ecosystem for the Internet sports industry.

On July 28, Hero Sports, a subsidiary of Heroes Mutual Entertainment and mobile e-sports event operator, completed the first round of financing of 640 million yuan. Focus Creative, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Focus Media, led the investment of RMB 300 million. After the transaction is completed, Focus Creative will hold an 8.242% stake in Hero Sports. In addition, Yinji Everbright Cultural Industry Fund, Yongtong Fund and other joint investments totaled 340 million yuan.

Hero Sports is a subsidiary of Hero Entertainment that focuses on Internet sports. Its events have reached 400 million registered users, more than 50 million daily active users, and approximately 80 million monthly active users.

Jiang Nanchun led Focus to enter the field of outdoor video advertising very early, and Ying Shuling, CEO of Hero Mutual Entertainment, is also a veteran of the e-sports market and served as COO of China Mobile Games Entertainment Group Co., Ltd. Both of them graduated from East China Normal University and are alumni and have known each other for many years.

This transaction is called by the industry as the largest financing in the field of Internet sports. After the transaction was completed, Focus Media CEO Jiang Nanchun and Hero Mutual Entertainment CEO Ying Shuling accepted media interviews.

"Focus's investment logic is to be the absolute leader in investing in vertical fields as the head force." Jiang Nanchun is optimistic about the e-sports market. "Internet sports is a billion-dollar market. Today's generation grew up in e-sports. The e-sports industry is developing rapidly as a game content-based sport, surpassing traditional sports such as basketball and football and becoming the number one sport for the younger generation."

Ying Shuling said: "Hero Sports is led by Focus Media. In the future, a large number of advertisers will be able to contact and promote our events."

The Internet sports industry is currently a hot spot pursued by venture capitalists. However, Jiang Nanchun is not satisfied with financial investment. Focus Media returned to A-shares at the end of last year. In the first annual report disclosed, Focus Media's net profit in 2015 was 3.39 billion yuan, a growth rate of 35%. In May this year, Focus Media announced the establishment of a US$400 million sports fund with Fangyuan Capital, and also announced that it would lead the investment in online sports service provider Gudong. Gulong's "big data + content + event operations + value-added services" model has begun to take shape. If the establishment of the sports fund accounts for 50% of the total, plus the 300 million investment in Hero Sports this time, Jiang Nanchun has invested a total of nearly 2 billion yuan in the field of Internet sports in the past six months.

Jiang Nanchun is using Focus's media price platform advantages to integrate content and is building his own operating ecosystem for the Internet sports industry. This ecosystem covers event live broadcast platforms, offline video marketing, smart wear, O2O sports, community and sports e-commerce and other derivative models.

From the perspective of Focus Media, with Hero Sports, solutions for sports events will definitely be added to the solutions given to advertisers. Hero Sports can also lead the way in improving profitability on the basis of expanding the influence of e-sports events and quickly commercializing e-sports sports. After all, part of the sports industry's core income comes from sponsorship from advertisers.

In terms of traffic, Focus Media can broadcast advertisements on necessary life scenarios such as returning home, going to work, and entertainment to attract mainstream e-sports users. Future offline venues and derivatives will also be the source of massive revenue for the e-sports industry.

In 2016, building a sports industry ecosystem of your own is something that many Internet giants are constantly pursuing. Whether it is LeSports, Wanda Sports, and Ali Sports, they are all making active arrangements. Although each family is creating a closed loop in the sports industry, the models are different. Jiang Nanchun is building Focus into two main platforms, one is a platform for media and the other is a platform for content-culture, entertainment and sports.

Editor: vian