One Championship, the most viewed and most well-funded Asian martial arts sports media entity, announced today that it has launched an apparel business. This follows the news in early November that it is expanding into esports.
The firm already has an online store where it sells martial arts-themed and One Championship shirts, bags, and caps. It will introduce limited edition apparel in the future.
The store is powered by Zilingo, a Singapore-headquartered ecommerce platform that specializes in helping merchants sell goods online. Both One Championship and Zilingo are portfolio companies of venture capital firm Sequoia.
One Championship’s expansion into ecommerce is a natural extension of its sizable reach. The company has attained a billion video views on Facebook in 2018 so far – an 85-fold growth in over four years – rivaling the biggest sports leagues and media companies in the world.
The link between ecommerce and media is not new, either. Ecommerce giants know that media could become a compelling funnel to convert viewers into buyers.
Amazon packages a subscription video business into Amazon Prime, its instant delivery service. Alibaba organizes big TV events to celebrate Single’s Day. Netflix and PayPal are prototyping ways to turn items seen in shows into actual purchases.
And then there’s Disney – who has mastered the art of turning movie franchises into billions in merchandise sales. The impending launch of its video-streaming business could turn that up another gear.
Editing by Eileen C. Ang
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