iQIYI to Stream Women’s Tennis in China

BEIJING: The Chinese online video service iQIYI and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have entered into a ten-year content partnership.

Starting in 2017, iQIYI will become the WTA’s digital rights partner in China. iQIYI will be bringing viewers live transmission of more than 2,000 women’s tennis matches, along with exclusive highlights, player interviews and content from the WTA Magazine Show. Non-exclusive rights include video clips and use of the WTA newsfeed. iQIYI users can access content on their personal computers, mobile phones and OTT via the internet in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Geng Xiaohua, iQIYI’s senior VP, said, “Since we were established in 2012, iQIYI Sports has featured tennis as part of its core programming and has broadcast WTA tournaments, including the China Open, WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, Wuhan Open, Tianjin Open and Guangzhou Open. As the most influential women’s sporting event in the world, WTA attracts a high-end audience, which is a perfect match for iQIYI’s young, upwardly-mobile user base. As tennis’s popularity continues to boom in China, we believe that iQIYI’s high-quality users and traffic make it the perfect channel for the WTA to further promote its tournaments in China.”

Micky Lawler, WTA’s president, commented, “This is a first-of-its-kind partnership for the WTA in China. iQIYI’s platform reinvents our digital offer in China in line with the new ways fans consume sports and entertainment content today, and in the future. We’re thrilled to be working with a partner who fully embraces everything that is unique and premium about our sport.”