Tennis Australia, organiser of the Australian Open, has extended and expanded its broadcast partnership with Chinese streaming platform iQiyi for the grand slam tournament.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but iQiyi previously held a three-year deal, along with state broadcaster CCTV and Shanghai Media Group, which expired following this year’s tournament in Melbourne.
China is a key market for the Australian Open. China overtook Japan in 2017 to become the Open’s number one Asia-Pacific territory by hours viewed, while the country also recorded the largest growth in terms of viewing audience by any territory worldwide.
Tennis Australia said more than 59 million people watched this year’s tournament in China, up more than 84 per cent on the 2016 Australian Open.