Nowadays, if you want to watch sports for free in China, you basically can't avoid platforms like Blue Whale, Sea Star, Douball, and Swift.
The biggest pain point for fans is: it's too hard to watch a free game! 📺 The rights to popular events are tightly held by a few major platforms, and on mainstream platforms like TikTok, Bilibili, Weibo, and WeChat, you can at most see highlights.
Thus, it leaves a loophole for "off-the-beaten-path" platforms and #sports broadcasters to attract traffic. 🎳
The traffic attraction tactics are not complicated: the broadcaster comments on the game while chatting with you, casually throws a QR code or pulls you into a TG group, and then gradually leads you to a gambling platform.
It generally happens in three steps. The first step is traffic attraction. The broadcaster presents themselves as an "insider expert," with their mouth full of odds and data analysis. The live room hangs advertisements, "join the group for predictions," of course, all in code to avoid detection in China.
The second step is segmentation. Fans are generally divided into external groups, internal groups, and VIPs. The external group is populous and lively; the internal group and VIPs, under the banner of "accurate predictions, high odds," require more deposits and more bets. The group members share "winning screenshots" daily, some celebrate, others follow, creating a heated atmosphere.
The third step is commission returns. The gambling platform sets a complete reward mechanism for agents: rewards for new recruits, first deposits, and additional commissions for high turnover. Thus, the broadcaster works hard to recruit people, and the people in the group recruit more, quickly forming a pyramid of downlines.
More cleverly, recently platforms and broadcasters have started using a "multi-platform matrix" strategy. 🎮
They create "content accounts" on mainstream platforms, or invest in traffic: posting goal highlights and event analysis predictions, seemingly normal sports content, which can both increase followers and stay within regulations. Meanwhile, they open live rooms on platforms like #Swift Live, #Douball Live, and #Sea Star Live, providing complete visuals and real-time commentary.
Viewers first get hooked on TikTok, Bilibili, then are led to another side. On the surface, they go to watch the game, but in reality, they have entered the gambling chain.
For example, a well-known football commentator KOL in the Cantonese-speaking region, Ding, is a representative of this strategy. He and several of his broadcasters simultaneously broadcast on TikTok and Bilibili, using Cantonese commentary and popular topics to attract a large number of fans.
After attracting the audience, Ding strategically directs the traffic to platforms like Sea Star and Blue Whale, leveraging this "dual-line traffic attraction" to convert mainstream platform followers into gambling users, earning high commission returns.
The biggest pain point in the middle is: since mainstream platforms do not have the rights, they instead become an excellent entry point for traffic attraction. 🚀 Fans see the highlights, feel that the broadcaster knows the game, ask "where can I watch the full match," and are then recommended another platform, instantly igniting the gambling instinct with "watching the game while betting." 🎲
⚽️ Swift Live even directly enters the field, opening an account on TikTok to post highlights and attract followers, gradually leading the audience to their own platform. This is what's called a "self-media matrix": front-end exposure, back-end conversion.
So, the essence of current domestic sports gambling traffic attraction is a "lack of watching opportunities + broadcaster conversion" double overlay. As long as there is demand from the audience, broadcasters and platforms can convert this demand into gambling traffic.
