After 20 15 "hot before cold", the sports entrepreneurship that entered the bottom of the valley recovered on 20 16, a large number of new players flooded into the industry, new opportunities emerged slowly, the attention of capital continued to rise, and many "new face" funds flocked in. Why is the sports industry so hot?
In addition to the improvement of national quality, the sports industry seems to be promoted by policies. The "No.46 Document" that sports must talk about is excellent chicken blood. This 5 trillion market has attracted many entrepreneurs and, of course, many investors.
After 20 15' s "hot before cold", sports entrepreneurship, which entered a stage trough, recovered on 20 16, and a large number of new players poured into the industry, new opportunities emerged slowly, the attention of capital continued to rise, and many "new face" funds were also pouring in.
Why is the sports industry concerned?
1. Policy guidance
Since 20 14, the State Council has issued opinions to upgrade the sports industry to a "national strategy", proposing that the total scale of China's sports industry will reach 202.5 billion in 2025.
According to the statistics of 2 1 Century Economic Research Institute, all 3 1 provinces in China issued sports development plans last year. By 2025, the total scale of sports industry planned by 27 provinces with specific goals will exceed 7 trillion yuan. Clear policy guidelines undoubtedly ignited the enthusiasm of capital.
According to international standards, when the per capita GDP reaches 5000 dollars, the sports industry will have a blowout situation. At present, the per capita GDP of China has reached the level of 8,000 US dollars, but the per capita sports consumption is only one tenth of the global average, and the future prospects will be released to a greater extent. The data of the sales terminal provides a basis for this judgment. Wang Xuesong, the general manager of JD.COM Sports, once said that sports category is one of the important categories with rapid growth in JD.COM, with the sales growth rate exceeding 100% from 20 13 to 20 15. On the day of "June 18" this year, the sales volume reached 2.6 times that of the same period last year.
2. Consumption upgrade guidance
Like many fields, the sports industry has benefited a lot from the consumption upgrade.
According to the report, "minority" sports that meet specific groups of people have gradually become the hottest trends, such as hiking, cycling, camping, rock climbing and kayaking. These sports are more expensive than traditional sports. From the consumption trajectory of 20 13 to 20 15, the consumption of basic sporting goods decreased obviously, but the consumption of cycling, swimming and fishing supplies increased all the way, especially the consumption growth rate of fishing supplies and cycling. In the first half of this year, the consumption growth rate of the above sports exceeded 75%.
In 20 15, there were nearly 200 large-scale bicycle races in China. Among them, amateur events and mass activities account for more than 80%, and the evolution of bicycles from "instead of walking" to "healthy sports" has driven the continuous expansion of the cycling market.
The attraction of fishing can already be compared with equestrian, golf and tennis.
Among them, 70% of fishing consumption is concentrated in the post-80 s group aged 26 to 35, accounting for 68.97% of consumption. The initial consumption of fishing 1000 yuan, and the repurchase rate is very high. The report also shows that outdoor consumption such as mountaineering, hiking and skiing is also in the "window". After China won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, it is estimated that the income of other related industries driven by the ice and snow sports involved in this Winter Olympics will reach more than 300 billion yuan.
In the context of consumption upgrading, experts believe that the following segments are worthy of attention:
1. Sports IP investment fever, how to precipitate?
Different from the film and television industry, it seems difficult for the sports industry to have an influential IP except for a few top domestic and international events.
Top events have become the focus of the strangulation game between big companies and capital giants, which is obviously not the best investment direction. Finding, selecting and cultivating emerging and growing IP is a problem that industry and capital should consider.
From the characteristics of sports itself, IP should have two attributes: either it can aggregate enough audiences; Or we can attract more people to participate. In this dimension, we try to decompose the industry and find the direction with investment value in the field of sports IP.
The linkage effect of top IP: In domestic head events, the most influential must be football. Following the sale of 8 billion copyright in Super League last year, it is believed that CBA will also complete the grafting with capital in the near future. Huge funds will boost the valuation of the whole core competition chain, and the sinking and infiltration of funds will also give opportunities for entrepreneurship and investment in all links except copyright.
For example, the operation management and business development of league clubs, the signal broadcast of the whole league, the production of program packaging, the ticketing of team venues and the operation management of surrounding commercial real estate, and then the integration and extension of games, e-sports and other fields with leagues, clubs and players.
TV reality show combining sports and entertainment: In fact, the creation of sports variety IP has always been the main direction of David this year. At present, there are some sports variety shows about diving and football on the market, but the overall response is not ideal. The fundamental reason may be that sports elements are too heavy and there is a lack of professional and purely entertaining production teams. There is no doubt about the direction of the combination of sports and entertainment. It should first have all the attributes of entertainment and reality show, rather than simply mechanically copying the concept of sports. To some extent, although there are no sports stars, Running Man is a standard sports entertainment reality show.
IP of minority sports: Compared with head sports, minority sports or partial sports are not eye-catching. These sports concepts introduced from abroad or originated from the people have quickly attracted attention in the field of mass consumption and are the direction that investors should pay attention to in the future.
For example, Crossfit, a brand-new fitness concept and method, originated in the United States, and became popular all over the world with the mode of joining chain fitness brands, and 20 15 rose in China. Socialization, teamwork, and new attributes different from the traditional fitness industry make Crossfit spread rapidly in the field of subdivided heavy fitness people.
Another example is the upgraded marathon, Sparta, muddy running similar to obstacle running, and even the ice bucket challenge that caused the national craze before, all of which have become the shadow of sports IP.
IP of amateur or campus grassroots events: This is an area that domestic capital and entrepreneurship have already begun to pay attention to. Many major sports fields, such as basketball and tennis, have begun to focus on amateur or campus leagues. However, it is a pity that so far, there are not many famous events or events with strong public effects. In the existing competitions, there are few other business models except the pure sponsorship model. Whether it is the IP of the event itself or the capital side, it needs patient training and waits for the maturity of the market.
2. A high-quality, standardized and movable new gym.
The traditional gym may be the part with the best cash flow and the biggest cake in the whole sports industry chain except shoes and clothing. More importantly, the gym is a scene that all kinds of online and offline sports can't avoid. With the improvement of health demand and the popularization of fitness crowd, the investment in various gymnasiums should be the focus of long-term follow-up attention of capital.
There are two ways to invest in a gym.
First, the large-scale chain gymnasiums, which are mainly based on traditional cable, will be upgraded by combining investment opportunities in the capital market, such as mergers and acquisitions and IPOs.
Second, in the future, a new gym with high quality, community-based, standardized management, low threshold and high service can be grafted to the entrance of Internet channels, which can be continuously concerned. For example, there are entrepreneurial projects in China, and mini gyms made of containers are scattered in every corner of the city, allowing users to punch in at any time. They are typical products after consumption upgrading, and they are also the general trend in the future.
3. Equipment upgrading, diversification and technology are the general trend.
Equipment may be the most direct rigid demand of sports industry. In the past few years, domestic shoes and clothing equipment has always given the impression of overcapacity. But in fact, in the past, the concept of products mostly stayed in the clothing of sports and leisure people. After the consumption upgrade, it will transition to professional and hierarchical equipment, and new equipment with a sense of science and technology and fashion will become a positive choice for sports people.
The field of running and fitness has been occupied by giants. Whether at home or abroad, the supply of equipment in minority areas such as ice and snow, outdoor and women may contain opportunities for new brands to enter.
4. Quality and technical sources
Technology has always been the driving force to change many industries, and sports is no exception. At present, the sports-related technologies that can be seen are: bracelets, running insoles, heart rate stickers, sign detection, headphones, VR, face recognition and motion capture technology, mobile live broadcast and so on. , worthy of continuous tracking; In addition, new technology products and sports equipment technology products from foreign sources can also be concerned.
5. Pay attention to women's sports, health and social products
Whether it is sports watching or sports consumption, female groups are playing an increasing role.
According to the published data, the consumption of women's sporting goods in European and American markets has maintained a growth of 10, with a compound annual growth rate of about 17%. It can be seen that sports giants such as Nike and Adi have made great efforts in the women's clothing market in recent years, such as opening women's clothing franchise stores in first-and second-tier cities in China to provide women with a special experience of buying sweatpants and underwear.
In fact, in addition to professional women's sports equipment, women's gymnasiums, training methods and courses, professional IP events, and online social products for sports health should all be areas of investment concern.
6. Sports nutrition, rehabilitation and insurance
Sports nutrition is an indispensable field.
There are roughly two directions in this field. An online health management platform, at present, many sports apps seem to be trying to cut in;
The other is high-quality nutrition and health care products. There are many such products, but there is a strong demand, often from overseas. Therefore, high-quality brands and supply chains are relatively lacking.
Rehabilitation and insurance, the former is now seeing more workshop-style stores, and it is difficult to form a large-scale chain brand. At present, the latter's domestic entrepreneurship has also started, with few goals. From the perspective of investment, it can be laid out in advance.
7. Advanced training methods
With the escalation of sports consumption, high-quality and advanced training methods are naturally unavailable. At present, there are basically two ways of sports venture capital in China, 2B and 2C. The former is more training materials and courses, while the latter is similar to training schools and training camps. In areas with large scale and crowd base and strong demand, such as football and fitness, we can focus on relevant training methods.
8. New consumers, born after 1995, technical secondary school education, the combination of sports.
Compared with too many visible and understandable sports entrepreneurial tracks, paying attention to emerging consumer groups such as the second generation and the post-1995 generation is the direction that sports entrepreneurship can expand and extend in the future. Understand the sports, entertainment and fashion fields that new people pay attention to, build their sports consumption scenes and establish emerging business models.
For example, basketball can be a starting point. Basketball attracts more attention from young people, which has a great relationship with hip-hop street culture and fan economy. Entrepreneurial projects around these young fan communities and platforms deserve attention.
9. Combination of e-sports, sports and games
E-sports, which combines sports and games, has a huge aggregation effect and is favored by various institutions and investors. They generally believe that this is another field where giant companies may be born besides equipment and IP.
The investment value needs no elaboration. From the research and development of games, the organization of events, to the broadcasting platform of emerging media, and then to the huge audience in the downstream, every field has the possibility of explosion and investment opportunities.
Enterprise health and sports services in 10.2B market
The last field, the health management of employees in large enterprises, may be the unique entrepreneurial direction in China. After the eight regulations, the consumption of Sangong continued to decline, and the company's own funds were more "justified" for employees' sports health. Facing the 2B enterprise market, there is a certain demand for sports health management system, competition organization, healthy catering and fitness management. But the choice of investors depends on the situation of different teams and different targets.
Advice to startups
Even if the startup chooses the right track, it is still not easy to actually operate. This requires a startup company: a down-to-earth model, whether you want to make a particularly excellent gym and offline facilities, or make some real smart devices, or other amateur leagues. You should ensure that it is really valuable, not just to attract attention, and don't always paralyze yourself with a China XXX to show it to foreign countries.
More importantly, your activities are attended and paid, which is entrepreneurship.
In fact, the core of sports in internet plus is offline, and there are relatively few things that can be done online, which is similar to the live broadcast of information. Big companies are doing it, and startups can't afford copyright.
What entrepreneurs can do is actually a combination of online and offline, such as online drainage, offline activity organization, fitness and so on. , and decide whether users stay or land offline services.
This is also one of the reasons why it is difficult for sports startups to obtain financing, because unlike Internet companies, as long as the products are used well, many users can get a large number of users and VC investments. In the sports industry, you need not only sports-related professional skills, but also marketing promotion skills and the ability to get money from VC. These three abilities are very demanding for the team.
Although sports entrepreneurship is more difficult than expected, the upward trend of this industry is very clear. On the one hand, people began to have some money, on the other hand, the economy was not particularly prosperous. Spending money is not as efficient as spending it on physical exercise, and spending time and energy on various sports will become more and more popular.
Gold medal consultants believe that there are opportunities in every field. If you choose well, you must be quick; if you choose badly, you must be patient and so on. If we look back at the next five years, now is the best time to enter the early stage of sports entrepreneurship, and the probability of success now is much greater than in the future.