ImagineChina (IC), a leading photo and video agency on the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, has signed a three-year exclusive agreement with the Chinese Super League (CSL), the country's most prestigious football league.
This exclusive partnership marks a significant milestone for ImagineChina who will be providing comprehensive coverage of all CSL matches and events. ImagineChina has built the first team of professional sports photographers in China with 15 photographers in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou who will lead the coverage of all CSL events. Backing them up are over 20,000 photographers and content creators working with ImageineChina in China.
“As the copyright of Chinese sports photography has long been undervalued, there is huge potential to drastically increase the impact of the nation’s sports image service." said Zan Kuang, Chief Executive Officer of ImagineChina.
The agreement also grants ImagineChina rights to license and distribute CSL photographic works for editorial and commercial purposes worldwide.
Recently, the Chinese government embarked on a program to develop domestic sports and boost the country's sports industry over coming decades. In particular, with the advent of more and more world-class football players and coaches gathering in China, this football bandwagon will be sweeping through the immense Chinese sports market and thriving football industry.
In addition to the CSL deal below, IC has secured an arrangement with the professional Volleyball league. The company is also the official photo agency for F1, Shanghai Master Cup Tennis, and many other sports events.
In 2016, ImagineChina was acquired by ByteDance, a digital tech company based in Beijing, which has over 600 million registered subscribers and more than 78 million daily users for its personalized news app Toutiao (Today’s Headlines), which is helping ImagineChina to upgrade its services.