Basketball in China

ARTICLE OVERVIEW:

• The domestic sports market is booming in China, with basketball leading the way.

• Over 300 million Chinese consumers are playing the sport casually, while 625 million call themselves fans of the sport. Over half a billion are watching the NBA online.

• Easier and cheaper to play than football, basketball is an intrinsic part of the culture in China now, with streetball a popular, more casual version of the sport. 

• As a brand, learning from the problems the NBA faced in China is important. 

• When it comes to marketing and communication, adidas must always act locally not globally in the country. Inserting global campaigns won’t work. 

• Supporting grassroots initiatives and events is a key recommendation for the brand. 

• Periphery products [scarves, key-rings, etc.] are also a huge market in China.

• As ever, the key words of involve, uplift and inspire matter in basketball, too.

A little heads-up. China’s domestic sports market is booming. In recent years, a burgeoning middle class with more leisure time and a growing awareness of fitness - alongside increased investment and publicity campaigns from the central government - have been the driving force behind a huge surge in the exposure and participation of football and basketball, as well as ping pong [“the national game”], volleyball, badminton and esports, as China moves ever closer to President Xí Jìnpíng’s goal of being a “leading sports nation” by 2050.

It’s basketball that leads the way as China’s most popular sport, with the total number of casual players in the country estimated to be upwards of 300 million. The top domestic league in China, the Chinese Basketball Association, is enjoying unprecedented levels of viewership through digital streaming platforms and is quickly becoming one of the leading professional basketball organisations in the world. Propelled by an influx of new investment, the CBA has begun to attract more and more players and coaches from overseas, in a move to capitalise on the national enthusiasm for the sport and retain domestic talent in China. The NBA meanwhile, is still the most-watched sports league in China, and currently, 625 million people call themselves fans of basketball, according to an industry report by Tencent in 2018.

The ubiquitous presence of basketball in the modern Chinese landscape – the sight of basketball stands and hoops, the sound of shouts and chasing steps and the thump of the ball in street parks – are testament to the country’s love of the game in every shape and form. Withstanding decades of anti-Western sentiment and political shifts, basketball has taken root and become a part of everyday life and entertainment in China. Basketball as entertainment is just as - if not perhaps more so - prevalent; almost half a billion people watched the NBA’s most recent season through Tencent, the entertainment and tech giant that last month extended its exclusive digital partnership with the NBA for another five years.

China’s large basketball fan base - coupled with their spending power - has made the country one of the most important markets for professional basketball leagues all over the world. At the same time, it has also made Chinese basketball consumers a very powerful audience. Technological advances have brought about generational shifts in the way basketball is watched, and smartphones are now where most Chinese basketball fans spend their money and time. About 71% of the people under the age of 20 watch games primarily on smartphones. Add into this the popularity of basketball across social media platforms like Weibo, Douyin, Bilibili and Youku and it makes the NBA the most followed sports league in China; the counter-rise in the popularity of streetball is just as much explained by these advances in technology and changing consumption patterns. Something that just ten years ago was unimaginable to Ron Chau, who founded the StreetChina platform. “It was just a small group of people. There were only 400,000 or 500,000 subscribers on my website. That was it. And we didn’t have new media at that time, let alone viral videos. We had to use routers to download videos via dial-up access. I made a video less than 20 megabytes and people were complaining it was too big to download”.

As international sports brands have rushed into China to capitalise on the lucrative market in the country - commercialising the nation’s favourite pastime - the feel of Chinese basketball has naturally been altered too. So, while the American NBA is still the most popular sports league in the country, homegrown stars from within and outside of the CBA have gained a following in their own right, as evidenced by the huge growth in streetball.

Once considered a rogue offshoot of basketball, streetball enjoys growing grassroots popularity in China; more fast and loose than the professional game, streetball has a less formal structure, and is typically played with less enforcement of the rules, more flair and more tricks. Its accessibility to everyone, regardless of height or experience, has encouraged skilful players and characters who, despite being unable to make it as a professional player, have resonated with an audience eager to be entertained and rediscover the energy and excitement of the original feel of the professional game.

And accessibility is a huge pull for the Chinese audience. Interviewing for Arsenal football club in Shanghai over the summer, PSEUDO heard that both basketball and streetball are essentially easier games to play than a football game or even 5-a-side. For the young audience over there, finding the right number of teammates for a football match, especially when their peers may be caught up in after-school activities, is hard. Coupled with that is the fees needed to play football anywhere, the pitches aren’t free in Shanghai and can cost anything from 200-300 yuan for an hour [25 to 40 euros]. 

Social media has allowed streetballers to make a living as KOLs and 'influencers'. Live streaming, ads, and sponsorships from clothing brands are all sources of revenue for streetball’s growing army of icons. As Ron Chau explains, "online promotion is the core to basketball’s rise in popularity. We can imagine in our parents’ times, they also liked playing basketball. But there weren’t so many people playing because there wasn't any content dedicated to basketball, there were no TVs, and newspapers seldom reported about basketball. In the 80s, there were TVs, and people started to watch basketball on TV. Later, it was an upgrade, from TVs to computers and now to cell phones. Basketball could survive and develop because of this. It’s not about the stadiums you build."

With streetball, it’s more a case of the platform empowering the players than the other way around, and it’s still the players themselves that hold the biggest sway in basketball culture. “Douyin is just a platform. It doesn’t seek change. It isn’t culturally disruptive”, explains Ron, who himself has over 50k followers on his brand’s Weibo account. “But the people on Douyin can be disruptive. Those popular ballers on Douyin like Jun Ge, Yang Cong, Yang Zhen or Tou Kui, have brought great changes to the basketball culture and to their fans. They’ve got lots of fans. The way they play basketball, their attitudes towards life, and their public images, have changed many things”.

Cao Fang, a professional streetball player from Beijing, explained how changes in organisational structures and social media platforms were fuelling the growth of this side of the game. “From advance publicity to the execution of basketball games, self-marketing of the players and short video feedback after the games, the structure is getting better and better and more and more comprehensive”. So much so that professional players are now feeling disadvantaged by the opportunities that streetball offers. As Cao Fang, who recently set up a basketball training camp called Xiandou Basketball Training and launched his own ProCity brand, explained to us, “A lot of non-professional basketball players earn much more than the majority of the professional basketball players. Non-professional basketball players live a more comfortable life and are under less stress. A lot of professional basketball players want to become non-professional. Some have already left professional basketball leagues, but many are still trying”.

Streetball events not only nourish and support the amateur game, but also offer professional players further opportunities within the game later on in their careers, and TV producers have jumped on the bandwagon too, grafting budding streetball talents and legends of the game into reality shows like Dunk of China and Tencent's recent online reality show, Game On.

If there has been a downside to the growth of streetball in recent years. it is a trend towards celebrating and empowering the individual players at the expense of the team, as the focus shifts onto the celebrities and nascent stars of streetball across social media platforms. "With the emergence of social media platforms, basketball culture now is more individualised and localised, because everyone now has the platform to share their views”, explains Tata, a streetballer from Beijing and owner of streetwear label atbetween. "To look at basketball culture at the national level, NBA is still the most authoritative, but individuals on social media platforms are forming the mainstream at the local level”.

With the empowerment of individual streetball players comes the emergence of a new basketball culture, one that stretches way beyond the courts themselves. Something that domestic brands like Li-Ning, Anta, Peak, and 361˚ are already tapping into - despite their relatively small social media presence compared to adidas and Nike – by sponsoring and supporting streetball events and players. “It’s more than just basketball”, explains Tata. “It also shows street lifestyle and culture. These cannot be seen on the court. It’s about what they do off the court - where they usually hang out, what they like to do and how they battle with others on the street, it also includes rap, graffiti, music, pop; things that are beyond basketball”. 

Tied into this individualism is also a renewed sense of localism, in a country where street culture is itself often localised. “I think street culture in China is unique because it is combined with traditional Chinese culture”, explains Tata. “One of the characteristics of street culture is local. China is a big country. Every city in China has its own street culture. Street culture in Chengdu, Chongqing and Shanghai. All of them are different from each other”.

This is something that Tata thinks adidas can tap into. “I think adidas can avoid the traditional American way, or doing something with basketball in the European way, to make basketball culture known more. This is also the inclusivity we talked about earlier, to make the culture accepted by more. Nike is doing this in the American way. I think adidas can do something with basketball by incorporating local culture”.

As always, this demand for localisation matters and again taps into the idea of letting Nike be big so we can be small. Importantly, we must also see China as many markets, not just Shanghai. Yes, it’s the main market in the region, but it’s not the only one. Brands that look to do things outside of Shanghai and the other tier 1 cities matter to this audience. They respect brands that use their power to make a difference, whatever the sport or cause, in tier 2 and 3 cities too. Especially when it comes to initiatives that ‘help’ China [although, we must never be a western saviour brand, you can read more about that warning here]. As citizens of Shanghai, they often see support in Shanghai as unnecessary. Interestingly, it is a brand’s support across the rest of China that the tier 1 consumers admire.

In terms of getting to grips with the regional nuances of the Chinese markets, brands do need to also be aware of larger cultural issues; the dangers of which the NBA discovered for itself in 2019 when political tensions between the organisation and Beijing spilled over into the game, after Daryl Morey - at the time the General Manager of the Houston Rockets - tweeted support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Companies such as Vivo, state broadcaster CCTV, and Tencent suspended all operations with the National Basketball Association, and it’s only recently that NBA games are being broadcast on CCTV networks again.

“I think the basketball industry can do anything as long as it doesn’t offend our country or hurt the feelings of the Chinese”, Tata explained to us.“It’s about nationalism and national pride. This is the bottom line. You can see what happens to those brands when they neglect our nationalism. Because apparel brands and sports brands can be easily replaced by others. They are not irreplaceable. In terms of inclusivity, as long as you don’t cross the bottom line, there won’t be much of a problem”.

The same problem was seen with Mezut Ozil and his commentary on China while playing for Arsenal; overnight, fans were unable to watch Arsenal games as they were no longer broadcast online or on TV. As 18-year-old football fan Yisheng told us, “Sometimes, players and employees’ behaviors will also affect the broadcast of games. For example, NBA games were blocked in China; Ozil was exiled from Arsenal because of his post about Uighur in China, and the club’s games were removed from state broadcaster CCTV's schedule.” [Arsenal research, Summer 2021]. 

As a brand this can often extend into social issues like inclusivity and diversity, although this seems to be on the agenda more and more in China. “I think adidas should think twice before they take a stand on certain social issues”, thinks Xixi, Shangai. “As a big brand, they are not really free to share their views. I understand that they have their points to make, but if they want to make money in China and given the size of Chinese market, they should show some restraint. Otherwise, they will not only lose market and money, but also make their fans feel disappointed. They should take into consideration Chinese people’s emotions, and China’s situation. It’s important that they show their care for their fans in China. Don’t break their hearts.” 

And the Chinese audience know they’re important to brands; they are more than aware of the commercial opportunity in targeting them and will wield that power back at brands if they feel any sense of offense. As previous research showed for adidas, they won’t accept global initiatives simply ‘plugged’ into China, they want localised versions that are built and branded ‘just for them’. Seeing themselves as ‘snowflakes’, they want to feel special and different. Brands that point any kind of finger at them or their country, will inevitably feel their wrath.

There is still a lot that adidas can be doing in China, and many areas that it should be showing up in, such as supporting grassroots initiatives and events and sponsoring players that can give the brand a presence and reaffirm its legacy and values. As Ron Chau says, “Stories need narrators. The ballers have lots of stories to tell, but adidas hasn’t realised that those are something important for Chinese fans and that the ballers are really valuable in different ways. If you can use them properly, they can influence more people, because every baller has his own characteristics, and adidas has signed different ballers. They can cover different kinds of audiences.”

These audiences, as we understand, are audiences [and players] from all tiers of the country. Working with them is imperative and finding ways to use our power to make a difference [and ways to be useful everyday] is important. With ‘periphery products’ [for instance, key-rings, bags, scarves - those products that sit outside of sneakers and clothes] being something that the Chinese audience particularly enjoys, providing those products for China is also a commercial win; they like to align themselves with brands and fandom and belonging to something matters. Finding ways to offer the audience periphery products that celebrate those local heroes and local culture works; it is a form of recognition and acknowledgement that they find respectful and thoughtful.

Telling local stories globally also matters. As an audience, they’re used to the flip-side of this, global stories inserted into China with little to no adaptation. Turning this around - telling Chinese stories globally - is a smart move. They want to feel recognised, they want to feel understood and they want to be seen, globally.