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The National Basketball Association (NBA) has been named the most popular sports league in China in a recent survey undertaken by Ampere Analysis.
Soccer’s English Premier League and Uefa Champions League ranked second and third respectively, in the report that conducted research with Chinese internet users.
Alexios Dimitropoulos, senior analyst at Ampere, said: “In China, the NBA already boasts one of the country’s largest television rights contracts and that’s why the competition tours China and plays league matches locally.”
Chinese soccer’s top flight, the Chinese Super League (CSL), did not make the list’s top ten even though attendances at its fixtures continue to break the 40,000 mark. It emerged from the survey, that only eight per cent of interviewees said they would pay to watch a CSL game.
The survey also showed that Chinese sports fans are younger than the national average with around 65 per cent of sports fans aged 44 or younger.
Ampere conducted similar research in 20 markets and China was the only one where table tennis appeared in the top ten most popular sports.
Dimitropoulos added: “Many of the globe’s largest sports leagues have already targeted China, but there is certainly more consumer appetite for competitions, and a willingness to pay to watch them.”
Following the NBA, Premier League and Champions League, the top ten most popular sports leagues were: the Fifa World Cup, Olympic Games, La Liga, Serie A, World Table Tennis Championships, Uefa European Championships and the Fiba Basketball World Cup.
Ampere also conducted research in India, where the top four sports were all cricket competitions. Tennis’ four Grand Slams, the Fifa World Cup and the Pro Kabaddi League made up the rest of the top ten.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has been named the most popular sports league in China in a recent survey undertaken by Ampere Analysis.
Soccer’s English Premier League and Uefa Champions League ranked second and third respectively, in the report that conducted research with Chinese internet users.
Alexios Dimitropoulos, senior analyst at Ampere, said: “In China, the NBA already boasts one of the country’s largest television rights contracts and that’s why the competition tours China and plays league matches locally.”
Chinese soccer’s top flight, the Chinese Super League (CSL), did not make the list’s top ten even though attendances at its fixtures continue to break the 40,000 mark. It emerged from the survey, that only eight per cent of interviewees said they would pay to watch a CSL game.
The survey also showed that Chinese sports fans are younger than the national average with around 65 per cent of sports fans aged 44 or younger.
Ampere conducted similar research in 20 markets and China was the only one where table tennis appeared in the top ten most popular sports.
Dimitropoulos added: “Many of the globe’s largest sports leagues have already targeted China, but there is certainly more consumer appetite for competitions, and a willingness to pay to watch them.”
Following the NBA, Premier League and Champions League, the top ten most popular sports leagues were: the Fifa World Cup, Olympic Games, La Liga, Serie A, World Table Tennis Championships, Uefa European Championships and the Fiba Basketball World Cup.
Ampere also conducted research in India, where the top four sports were all cricket competitions. Tennis’ four Grand Slams, the Fifa World Cup and the Pro Kabaddi League made up the rest of the top ten.
