Previous Venture with Official Olympic Broadcaster Reached 380 Million Viewers on Youku
Alibaba Group has agreed to a partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to become a worldwide sponsor of the Olympic Games through 2028.
Alibaba will help the IOC transform how fans engage with the Games and how the largest global sporting event works with all stakeholders, from organising committees to partners, athletes and fans.
“Alibaba’s partnership with the IOC is built on a foundation of shared values and a common vision for connecting the world and enriching people’s lives,” said Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group. “We are proud to support Olympic Agenda 2020, using our innovations and technologies to help evolve the Olympic Games for the digital era.”
Under terms of the agreement, Alibaba joins The Olympic Partner worldwide sponsorship programme and becomes the official Cloud and e-Commerce Platform Services Partner of the IOC, as well as a Founding Partner of the Olympic Channel.
Alibaba will offer cloud-computing infrastructure and services, support big-data analytics, e-commerce and digital media solutions in focus to help the IOC achieve a variety of key objectives outlined in its Olympic Agenda 2020. The partnership aims for a more efficient and secure staging of the Olympic Games, also developing the Olympic Channel for a Chinese audience as well as expanding opportunities for official Olympic merchandise.
“In this new digital world, Alibaba is uniquely positioned to help the IOC achieve a variety of key objectives outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, while positively shaping the future of the Olympic Movement,” IOC President Thomas Bach said.“This is a ground-breaking, innovative alliance, and will help drive efficiencies in the organisation of the Olympic Games through 2028, whilst also supporting the global development of digital opportunities including the Olympic Channel.”
This isn’t Alibaba’s first involvement with the Olympic Games. During Rio 2016, Alibaba supported the official Olympic broadcaster, CCTV, to stream the Games via its video-sharing platform, Youku, reaching approximately 380 million viewers.
The partnership also supports Alibaba’s goal of reaching 2 billion consumers globally with its services by 2036.
