Tencent World Cup Channel Goes Online with Exciting Features Centered Around the Games

BEIJING, June 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Tencent, China's leading online communications, social, and entertainment services company, has announced the launch of its World Cup Channel, a wide-ranging package of original video content and interactive products and features designed to give the millions of fans who watch the games a more exciting and participatory experience.

The Channel has now gone live with original video content, interactive products, and feature columns centered around the games. When the kick-off day arrives on June 12, Tencent users will have full access to a vast array of video content via a single channel including real-time reports about competitions, commentary from soccer experts and former players, and updates about what is happening on and off the field. Starting June 12, the World Cup Channel will feature eight original video sequences on the untold stories of celebrity soccer stars and their wives, debates between famous soccer experts and sports commentators, and interviews with established soccer coaches and players from national teams.

Between matches, the online audience can predict who they believe are the champions using World Cup Prediction, an interactive product developed by Tencent. With Tencent's Game Watching app, the audience can bet on game results together with their friends. Although participants cannot win prizes or real money, they can still have a great time by betting right and showing off their knowledge about soccer and the World Cup. After a match, betting results can be shared in the WeChat "Discover" circle where losers can seek encouragement and winners can show off their confidence and good luck. Everyone will be entertained.

Another World Cup Channel program, "Facing Superstars," will feature video interviews with soccer legends Neymar, Robinho, Casillas, Xavi, Ronaldo, and others who will offer their perspectives on the games and share their own greatest moments playing in previous World Cups. An array of other programs will offer real-time updates on the games, a 24-hour broadcast reviewing the games in fine detail, and "10 am/pm World Cup Tips," a news column that will announce game results and forecast highlights of the games taking place the following day for two prime-time hours every day.

"Everyone who is a soccer fan will find something that will captivate them on Tencent's World Cup Channel," said Yongzhi Wang, deputy editor-in-chief of QQ.com. "Our launch of the Channel tells the world that Tencent is fully ready to offer coverage of the World Cup. We have developed immersive HTML5-based products and entertaining video that will delight those following the event. Whether you are a long-time soccer lover or someone new to the game, Tencent's World Cup Channel will put you at the heart of the action and let you participate actively in the fun."

A team of 70 media -- journalists, online video program hosts, sports commentators, and special guests -- will head for 12 Brazilian locations where matches are taking place, including Rio de Janeiro, to conduct video interviews right on the scene to send exclusive first-hand information about the World Cup to Tencent's online audience. At the back-end, there is an even bigger content generation team of more than 500 people to cover the event uninterrupted 24 hours a day for 31 days. Tencent has started its World Cup coverage early, launching a feature column in April, Right on the Spot, sending news teams to cover World Cup teams' preparation and conducting face-to-face interviews with soccer stars throughout European participating countries.

As a world leader in mobile technology, Tencent will focus much of its World Cup coverage on information delivery via mobile terminals. Currently, a powerful media coverage matrix encompassing nearly all the mobile and PC platforms of Tencent has been formed including Tencent News + Video + WeChat + Mobile QQ + Microvideos + Game Watching + Microblogs + the Tencent website. The World Cup has never before seen such a diverse and wide-ranging online coverage matrix.

"Tencent has harnessed its many years of mobile experience to offer its audience the richest video and game-watching experience possible," said Yongzhi Wang, "We are fully confident that the 2014 World Cup will mark a new milestone for the Mobile World Cup: Tencent mobile technology will bring users a whole new experience when it comes to watching and participating in the game."

SOURCE Tencent