NBA partners with Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo

Representatives from NBA China and Sina Weibo, five-time NBA champion Ron Harper, seven-time winner Robert Horry and Chinese movie star Chen Xiao pose for photos at a news conference announcing the cooperation between NBA China and Sina Weibo in Shanghai on Monday, March 6, 2017. [Photo: weibo.com]

NBA China and Sina Weibo announced to form a long-term strategic partnership on Monday, making Sina Weibo the official social media platform of NBA China.

Real-time video clips, daily game highlight collections, original programs and interactive products from the NBA will be launched on Sina Weibo for its 300 million active users, reported sports.sina.com.cn.

Chinese fans will also be able to watch NBA player interviews, browse game photos and data through the Weibo platform.

Fan meetings, behind-the-scenes bloopers from all regular season NBA games, all-star weekends, playoffs and finals will be live broadcast on Weibo.

NBA-themed original programs jointly made by Weibo and NBA China will be broadcast via official Weibo accounts of NBA China, Weibo Sports, Weibo Basketball, as well as authorized multi-channel networks and the Weibo accounts of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs).

An NBA page will be created on Sina Weibo to help users find NBA news and information more efficiently. A game reminder service will also be launched to synchronize NBA game schedules to users' calendars in their mobile devices.

NBA China CEO Shu Dewei said social media has changed the ways in which Chinese fans know and enjoy the NBA, adding that the cooperation will bring Weibo users exciting NBA content which they can watch anywhere they are.

Sina Weibo CEO Wang Gaofei said he hopes the cooperation will bring Chinese fans more abundant game watching choices. Gao said the cooperation with the NBA is an important step to bring top sports games to its Chinese users.

Five-time NBA champion Ron Harper and seven-time winner Robert Horry attended the news conference announcing the cooperation. Chinese movie star Chen Xiao was appointed "Weibo basketball ambassador" to promote basketball in China together with NBA China and Sina Weibo.

NBA China was established in January 2008 to deal with NBA related business in China. The company has allied with many TV channels and digital media in China, including a 30-year-cooperation with China Central Television.