ONE Championship's Growth Fueled By Digital Innovation
ONE Championship didn’t adopt the digital age – it was born in it and molded by it.
As part of the company’s DNA from day one, the world’s largest martial arts organization has made it a priority to not only embrace technology, but also to harness its power for innovation and differentiation amid an increasingly competitive industry.
In order to engage a younger, digitally native population, especially in Southeast Asia, where some countries have a median age of just 25 years old, ONE lives and breathes technology. This mindset is a key reason why more than 60 percent of the company’s fan base is younger than 34 years old – a key target demographic for marketers globally.
The proof is in the data.
Just over a decade after being founded by Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong in Singapore, ONE Championship is broadcast to more than 150 countries worldwide and was named a top-five global sports property for viewership and engagement in Nielsen’s “2021 Year in Review: Sports Consumption Evolution” report, with more than 13.8 billion video views across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, second only to the NBA.
Much of this success stems from a bold decision made six years ago. In order to capture a massive new audience that was coming online throughout Southeast Asia, ONE Championship began simulcasting its live events across the largest broadcast and digital partners in the region.
By making those live events available across multiple platforms in the same country, ONE Championship was able to reach viewers at whatever screen was the most convenient at that moment, truly putting the fan first.
“It took some time to convince our partners, but we knew it was the right thing to do,” Sityodtong said. “We wanted to make it easy for fans to watch live ONE events on the best and largest screen available to them at the time.”
“For example, in Bangkok you may be sitting in traffic on a Friday night on the way home after work in your taxi watching ONE on your phone, and as soon as you get home, you watch it on broadcast with your family. Ultimately, simulcasting was not only a necessity for ONE, but it proved to be a 1+1=3 scenario – a true win-win driving viewership and consumption to all partners."
Working with top global digital partners including Meta, Prime Video, Wave Sports + Entertainment, Google and Twitter, ONE Championship is now providing fans across the globe with an endless amount of ways to consume content, whether it’s action inside the Circle or outside of it. For instance, the martial arts organization has captured more than 300 bouts in virtual reality over the past four years to give viewers the best seat in the house from the comfort of their own home.
In order to deliver this best-in-class virtual experience, ONE partnered with Meta in May 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. ONE’s VR content can be found today in Meta’s Horizon Worlds with a monthly “Always On Content” being featured for global audiences to watch at any time, as well as a VR replay of ONE’s Asia primetime events airing once a month.
It is truly a unique experience in which fans can meet and interact with avatars from all around the world, combining social elements with 180-degree views that provide an intimate look at the action. ONE was one of the first global sports properties, alongside the NBA, to invest in this experience, and the engagement has ranked amongst the top offerings in Horizon Worlds.
With two events under ONE’s belt as part of its new multi-year agreement with Prime Video, further expanding the promotion in the United States, the company delivered more than two times the target viewership goals that were set for its debut event on August 26 titled ONE on Prime Video 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II.
The partnership between Prime Video and ONE Championship – a digital disruptor in the sports industry and a sports media property born in the digital age – has already proven where sports consumption behaviors in the United States is heading.
“The U.S. is the leading market in the world when it comes to sports and entertainment and all of us are super excited about taking ONE to the next level as we expand in the country,” said ONE Group President Hua Fung Teh.
“The partnership with Prime Video is a game-changer for us, and we’re so proud that they’re coming alongside us as it shows their belief and trust in our brand and they’re the perfect partner for us given their reach, U.S. platform and digital expertise. We’ve already witnessed the first fruits of what we can achieve together in our first two events and proves that the sky’s the limit for this partnership as we grow our presence in the U.S. over the next few years.”
ONE Championship has also been effective at partnering with third-party platforms to drive fandom. Already a top-five Wave Sports + Entertainment partner for all-time viewership, ONE has delivered more than 1.6 billion digital views in the first two years of the partnership across several of its digital sports, social-first, fan-focused brands. As content consumption and behaviors of sports fans have evolved in the U.S. over the last several years, Wave Sports + Entertainment’s predominantly United States-based Gen Z audience provided the perfect gateway for ONE to introduce itself to this desired audience.
ONE Championship has also developed additional levers to drive deep fandom with their audience through ONE Esports and ONE Super App.
ONE Esports is one of Asia’s largest esports organizations, born from research showing a 70 percent overlap in ONE fans who are interested in MMA and esports. Replicating the same formula as ONE Championship, ONE Esports hosts some of the largest esports events while telling the stories of the athletes as they compete in some of the biggest titles globally, including League of Legends, Dota 2, Valorant and Mobile Legends.
With more than 321 million monthly views across ONE Esports social platforms, 3 million unique monthly site visitors, and partnerships with TUMI, HBSC, JBL, Samsung, and others, ONE Esports has rapidly established a significant foundation, setting it up to be a global leader in the esports space over the coming years.
“The growth and success of our esports business in such a short space of time completely validates both our digital DNA and also our belief from day one that expanding into gaming was the future,” said ONE Esports CEO Carlos Alimurung.
“The fact that we now have household name brands partnering with us in this space also underlines the exciting growth potential of the esports industry. The digital era provides us with infinite opportunities to continue innovating and revolutionizing the way that fans and athletes alike can enjoy, consume and compete in gaming and this is only the beginning for the world of esports.”
With more than 1.2 billion mobile phone users in the Asia-Pacific region, ONE rolled out the ONE Super App for fans to engage with the brand, try the latest products, watch content, and win prizes. ONE’s Fantasy Game lets users pick winners by round, fight finish, and various other factors. Users climb the leaderboards to compete for bragging rights, prizes, and more among a like-minded community that is passionate about combat sports. The ONE Super App also gives fans a repository of all their favorite ONE athletes, VOD content, next-gen stats, and upcoming events.
ONE’s commitment to technology, leaning strongly into digital very early in order to engage with digital-first, digital-only fans across Asia, was a necessity for it to achieve the massive success it has to date. Building this into the DNA of ONE has established a foundation in which the company is delivering on the insatiable demand for content, the way fans want it, to the next generation in the U.S and globally.
To learn more about ONE Championship, please visit ONE’s partnership page
