The NBA 2K League today announced Tencent Holdings Limited as the league’s first distribution partner in China.
Tencent, with hundreds of millions of daily users, will stream condensed 2019 NBA 2K League playoff and Finals games across Tencent Sports, Tencent Video and Tencent News. The coverage will include select, condensed 2019 NBA 2K League Playoff games and all 2019 NBA 2K League Finals games.
With the addition of Tencent, the NBA 2K League now streams its games across three platforms. The league originally signed a partnership with Twitch before its inaugural 2018 season, but the two departed the exclusive deal after the season. In early 2019, the league added YouTube as a streaming partner, and streams every week on both Twitch and YouTube. Now, it adds Tencent, a key step forward into the Chinese market into which the league hopes to expand in the next several years.
“Today is another incredible step forward in the NBA 2K League continuing to grow as a global league,” said NBA 2K League Managing Director Brendan Donohue. “Tencent is the ideal partner to distribute our games and bring the excitement of the NBA 2K League to fans in China, and this partnership illustrates the popularity of esports and interest in the NBA 2K League among its hundreds of millions of daily users.”
“The NBA 2K League is a world-famous professional esports league,” said Tencent Sports General Manager Ewell Zhao. “Tencent Sports hopes the NBA 2K League will provide a new way to bring the charm of basketball and sports to more people.”
The 2019 NBA 2K League Playoffs tip off Wednesday, July 24, with quarterfinals and semifinals taking place over the span of three days. The best-of-five 2019 NBA 2K League Finals will take place on Saturday, August 3.
