‘My aim is to make One the world’s largest single sports property’ – says CEO Chatri Sityodtong
The founder of One Championship Chatri Sityodtong has said that he aims to make the martial arts company the biggest sports property in the world, claiming to have already matched Formula One in terms of fanbase size and with America’s NFL in his sights as the next landmark.
Now a unicorn company funded by Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and United States venture capitalist firm Sequoia Capital, One is said to have achieved 3.5bn video views in the first quarter of this year alone. This was thanks partly to its eight million Facebook fans and the matches being broadcast in more than 130 countries.
Sityodtong had spoken to Mumbrella previously about brands and agencies not yet fully comprehending the possibilities of a potential Asian audience of 4.4bn people. But speaking at the Tech in Asia conference in Singapore today, he told delegates that before One’s rise Asia had zero billion-dollar sporting properties whereas the likes of America and Europe had many.
“Every Asian country has a martial art and my aim is to make One the world’s largest single sports property,” he said in a clear statement of intent, adding: “F1 started in 1950 and we are already the same size thanks to technology and social media in a connected world.”
Recounting his own personal story, after founding the company in 2011 and not achieving success until 2014, the CEO told an audience at the Suntec Convention Centre: “I failed thousands of times. Everyone rejected me. I got my ass kicked every day for the first four years.
“Brands would say ‘why would I sponsor you when you’re not on TV’. We had no revenue, no distribution and poor ratings. It was brutal. I was in a hole of despair for four years, but I climbed out and the business exploded.”
Explaining that there was nothing to fear for marketers in terms of being associated with such a physical sport that could be perceived as violent, Sityodtong said: “This is not about fighting, it’s about humanity and inspirational life stories.”
Dean is the publisher at Mumbrella Asia. He is an experienced British journalist, who has worked in a number of international markets including Singapore, Australia, Dubai, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. As well as his media work, he is also a published academic.
I take my hat off for his achievement and will be joining the event in Singapore this Friday. Mixed quality of fights from my past experiences, but a good show altogether.
It is however, beyond a stretch to say ONE FC is as big as F1, because one or two metrics are the same…
ReplyThis guy again Mumbrella?
No mention of his [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] journey?
Not a huge fan of Sityodtong or his MMA organisation, but I’ll give him one thing: he’s doing amazing at the PR game.
Replynice
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