Chinese sports marketing company Seca has secured exclusive mobile and internet rights in the country to a number of International Table Tennis Federation events after agreeing a partnership with the sport’s global governing body.
The two parties have agreed a four-year deal, which will run from 2017 until 2020. The partnership grants Seca digital rights in mainland China to the World Table Tennis Championships, Men’s and Women’s World Cups, World Team Cup, World Junior Table Tennis Championships, and the World Tour and World Tour Grand Finals events.
Under the agreement, the ITTF and Seca will develop marketing campaigns and initiatives to promote the sport in the country. “This deal with Seca is the first step of a greater partnership to grow (the) table tennis brand,” ITTF president Thomas Weikert said.
Seca founder and chief executive Li Sheng added: “Table tennis is known as the national sport of China with 190 million people watching the recent World Team Table Tennis Championships and there being 30 million registered table tennis players across the country. These facts combined confirms the infinite potential in the Chinese table tennis market, which is shared by both Seca and the ITTF.
“Seca will use new technologies like visual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality within table tennis broadcasts to ensure it becomes more and more attractive and valuable for all stakeholders.”
TMS International, the ITTF’s rights-holder, brokered the partnership.