The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) brokered by rights holders TMS International has agreed a partnership deal with SECA for all internet and mobile rights within Mainland China.
The exclusive deal will run for four years between 2017 and 2020 and is the start of a new era of ITTF’s digital rights within China. As part of the deal both the ITTF and SECA agree to further explore opportunities in overall brand marketing local activation and new exciting initiatives for the sport.
TMS International Managing Director Anders THUNSTROM stated: “TMS International is very pleased to have concluded this agreement with SECA that will have a particular emphasis to catering to the youth. I am sure SECA will be an excellent partner for TMS and ITTF in distributing World Title events in table tennis over the Internet into mobile phones and other devices”.
SECA CEO and Founder LI Sheng stated: “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”.
“It is SECA’s great honor to become one of ITTF’s Chinese partners to promote table tennis in China by presenting it as fashionable and entertaining to gain value within China. 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.”
ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT added: “This deal with SECA is the first step of a greater partnership to grow table tennis brand. We are excited to be working with a new motivated partner and we have seen some great work SECA has been doing in several other sporting properties. We are sure they will help us to lift our sport to greater heights”
Within the new deal SECA obtains the internet and mobile rights within China for the following ITTF events:
- World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC)
- Men’s World Cup
- Women’s World Cup
- World Team Cup (held every two years 2017 and 2019 only)
- World Junior Table Tennis Championships
- World Tour and World Tour Grand Finals
