The Chinese Olympic Committee has signed an eight-year partnership with Tencent under which the internet service portal will provide exclusive interviews with the country’s athletes at 20 major events.
The China Daily newspaper said that the deal would cover the 2014 and 2018 winter Olympic Games, the 2016 and 2020 summer Olympics and two editions of the Asian Games in 2014 and 2019.
Tencent will serve as the exclusive internet outlet of the committee and will also produce a variety of additional content under the deal, the longest partnership of its kind between the committee and a media organisation.
Xiao Min, the committee’s vice-chairman, said: “We should pay more attention to the impact of internet media such as Tencent. Its social media platforms and sports and news channels have gained decent page views and the mobile news outlets have been the major platform for sports fans.”
Since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Tencent has invested heavily in sports coverage. During the 2012 London Olympics, almost 70 per cent of China’s mobile phone users are said to have consistently visited Tencent’s mobile Olympic channel for news updates.