Istanbul, Turkey - As exclusive global media and marketing partner of the Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF), Infront Sports & Media, a Wanda Sport company, is continuing to increase the media reach and value of the Spor Toto Basketball Super League. With a strong line-up of 12 leading sponsor brands and the matches being available in 15 countries, the 51st BSL season is entering its fourth round this weekend.
Sponsorship activation ‘Game of the Week’ to boost live attendance
Committing to the BSL platform on a long-term basis, sponsors are bringing extensive services to drive even greater numbers into the arenas. In a new campaign created for this season, Bilyoner.com, the Turkish online betting and lottery provider, is aiming to encourage fans to demonstrate greater support for their teams by attending more live games all across Turkey. Each week one game is selected as 'Game of the Week' where Bilyoner.com will organise both on and off court fan events, featuring gift giveaways and live shows with the goal of creating greater awareness and excitement for the games.
RedBull.com as Digital Media Partner providing unparalleled fan engagement
In a new co-operation for 2016, Infront has sealed an agreement with RedBull.com as Digital Media Partner to the Spor Toto Basketball Super League for the next three seasons. Ahead of the season start, a series of Basketball Super League Media Days were co-ordinated by Infront for each participating team. In this context, Infront – supported by Redbull.com – collaborated on all digital efforts to create exclusive basketball content. Various videos, special interviews and photo shoots were produced featuring background information and highlights content from each team to generate valuable communication material for use across all platforms throughout the season.
RedBull.com and Bilyoner.com complete a contingent of 12 sponsors including: Title Sponsor Spor Toto, Memorial Hospitals, Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning, ING Bank, MetLife, LeasePlan, Vivident, Head & Shoulders, TatilSepeti.com and Herbalife.
Growing television audiences worldwide
The Spor Toto Basketball Super League continues to expand its media reach demonstrating significant increases when compared to previous seasons. For 2015/16, the number of live games broadcast on TV increased by 14 per cent while the overall broadcast hours increased by 33 per cent. The result was a 42 per cent increase in TV audience compared to the 2014/15 season.
The 2016/17 season is expected to exceed last year’s figures due to existing media agreements in place for fans in Turkey with NTV Spor and Digitürk’s LigTV as well as on an international basis with rights distributed to a further 14 countries.
A leading sports platform for Turkey and beyond
Ender Uslu, Managing Director of Infront Turkey: “The Spor Toto Basketball Super League has demonstrated its significant appeal through the growing TV coverage of the league and sponsor commitment. Last year, we succeeded in extending the broadcast exposure and are now driving greater fan participation through clever sponsorship strategies. We are confident that these efforts will continue to push the league further along its steady growth trajectory and towards establishing itself as a leading sports brand in Turkey, Europe and beyond.”
The 2016/17 Spor Toto Basketball Super League’s regular season tipped off at the beginning of October with the playoffs following in May 2017.
About Infront Sports & Media
Infront Sports & Media is the most respected sports marketing company in the world, managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Led by President & CEO Philippe Blatter, Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events – including distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production and event operation – and has won a reputation for its high standards of delivery. As the number one player in winter sport and with a leading role in football, summer and endurance sports, Infront enjoys long-lasting partnerships with 170 rights-holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of more than 900 experienced staff working from over 35 offices across more than 15 countries, delivering 4,100 event days of top class sport around the world every year. In November 2015, Infront was integrated into Wanda Sports Holding, part of the Chinese conglomerate the Dalian Wanda Group.
