Over 20 hours of television coverage with a media value of US$ 1.5 million USD; are we talking about a table tennis event in Oceania?

In 2009 the Oceania Table Tennis Federation (OTTF) agreed with the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and TMS International to start on a new journey of aligning itself closer to international events. Since then ITTF–Oceania, the new name, has been full steam ahead to try and seriously raise the commercial level of their events.

The motivation was very simple: raise the commercial value of the event so that eventually the tournaments in Oceania can become profitable and that each stakeholder (players, organizers, sponsors etc) benefit from the staging of Oceania events.

Television Coverage

Television coverage was needed, sponsors needed to be convinced and organizers with belief needed to be sought. It was an ambitious goal.

Previous events in the region had largely been participatory in nature and profiting from events had rarely been a thought. Players had become accustomed to the fact that serious prize money was only for those that could be successful in Europe or Asia, but that was so far away.

Hard Work and Belief

Fast Forward to June 2011 and what seems now to be a two year long journey just shows you what can be done with hard work and most importantly belief.

Scott Houston, under the guidance of the ITTF Marketing Director Steve Dainton and support of Anders Thunström from TMS International had the tenacity to prove that building a commercial product in table tennis in the Oceania region was possible. Fortunately, ITTF President, Adham Sharara and OTTF President, Patrick Gillman had the belief and trust that it was also achievable.

Matters Progressed Quickly

I am not sure if any of them expected that it would have happened so fast.

On Thursday 15th September 2011, the media report, produced by Kantar Sports, the world wide renowned sports media analysis company, was released. The results were better than modest to say the least.

Phenomenal Performance

In fact, considering it was the first time for such an event, the results were far better than expected. Over 20 hours of television broadcast in Australia (Fox Sports) and New Zealand (Sky) and over US$ 1.5 million in media value for the sponsors generated.

A phenomenal performance considering it was the first serious attempt to achieve those goals.

Set the Necessary Details in Place

"It just goes to show what is possible if you follow the steps required to make a continental event commercially viable”, said Steve Dainton. “It needs to be relevant and make sense for the television networks; it needs to be a high quality set up and there needs to be some "hooks" and connections to the bigger world events for local television to support, once you have this in place and have convinced the television networks then sponsors are more willing to support you.”

Benefit to Players

Furthermore, there is a massive benefit for the players.

“Most importantly with the sponsorships behind you”, continued Steve Dainton. “You can give back to the players by providing worthwhile prize money".

Bright Future for Developing Regions

Now, with North America, Africa and Latin America now also agreeing to a similar structure; a positive future for table tennis in the developing regions of the world looms.