From "Leaping to the Extinction", see how Tencent NBA jointly builds a star IP

At the 2025 NBA Draft, China Sports ushered in a night worth remembering.

On June 26, Yang Hansen was selected in the 16th pick in the first round, becoming the most exciting moment for Chinese basketball in recent years. The new hope of the Chinese men's basketball team has thus leaped into the best basketball league in the world.

Source: Weibo @NBA

On the night of the talent show, Yang Hansen sat in the audience, eating fried chicken while paying attention to the big screen talent show on the spot, and the feeling of slackness was full. When the camera was aimed at him, several "ready" sounds sounded around him, and Yang Hansen's nervousness also showed off, saying in surprise: "Do you want to call me?"

After coming back to his senses, he began to put on a suit and wait for NBA president Xiao Hua to say the words that made countless Chinese fans fall into a carnival.

This scene has become a scene that has been repeatedly discussed in the ten-episode documentary "Leaping to the Extinction" exclusively produced by Tencent NBA.

In this documentary, we see the complete process of Yang Hansen traveling to the United States and embarking on his draft journey. From sweating profusely at the training camp to having trial training with many NBA teams, draft nights, summer leagues... "Leaping to the vast" presents Yang Hansen's trial training, run, life and game trajectory, making his image more three-dimensional and resonate with fans. There are many moments in the film that can help us understand Yang Hansen better. For example, under the guidance of the trainer, Yang Hansen discovered and began to improve the shooting hand shape problem, laying the groundwork for his outstanding performance in subsequent trial training. This section not only shows Yang Hansen's talent, hard work and enthusiasm, but also allows us to see American basketball's control over details.

trainer Chris Johnson helped Yang Hansen correct his shooting problem

Through "Leaping to the vast", basketball fans can intuitively feel an important fact: the reason why Yang Hansen's path to run for election is so outstanding is inseparable from the access and planning of a professional election system. The film contains many speeches and comments from the trainer team, agents, media, etc.

Ritchie Paul also appeared in the documentary

More importantly, since Tencent is also the official partner of the NBA, "Leaping to the Great" formed a natural "symbiotic" relationship with talent night - the former creates emotional accumulation and story preparation for the latter, while the latter provides climax and communication nodes for the documentary content. The first episode of the documentary started broadcasting on May 20 this year and lasted until July 22. From the early fermentation to the later outbreak, a complete content link was completed.

It can be said that in an era when the content rhythm is reshaped by short videos, Tencent NBA is obviously not only satisfied with a single traffic explosion point. They chose to use ten-episode documentaries to build a more three-dimensional and international communication outlet, and tell an NBA story belonging to Chinese players more deeply and disseminated. During the live broadcast of the talent show, Tencent NBA set up an exclusive camera position for Yang Hansen

Of course, "Leaping to the Great" also has the current transmission genes, and many moments in the film are widely active in short video slices.

For example, when Yang Hansen was selected, Tencent NBA commentator had a passionate reaction and quickly became popular on the Internet; similar ones were "good brother" Maru Aqi. Before the draft, Maruach and Yang Hansen trained together. Before parting, he lay on the gym physiotherapy bed and said to Yang Hansen, "Brother, safe all the way." This interaction became a clip of many people imitating the second creation.

To a certain extent, if talent show night is the explosive point itself, then "Leaping to the vast" is an amplifier of this explosive point: from Weibo hot searches, the flood of friends, and the secondary dissemination of more social media platforms, its influence is not limited to the fan circle, but also pushing the name "Yang Hansen" into a wider public perspective through content.

A good story needs a protagonist and a good narrator.

Yang Hansen is undoubtedly a protagonist with enough tension. He represents the new appearance of Chinese basketball. In addition to competition, he also has the unique "slackness" of the new generation of athletes: his personality is calm but a bit cold and humorous. For example, when an overseas reporter asked him what he had hobbies, Yang Hansen said: Eat, sleep, and play PS5.

' down-to-earth answer also made him quickly become popular overseas, and some fans even held placards at the summer league, applauding this lifestyle of "Isn't this me?"

Source: Reddit

But the growth of a player will not naturally be transformed into a "public story". The platform needs to intervene earlier and deeper to explore the core value of content. "Leaping to the vastness" plays this role, showing Yang Hansen's talent show journey from a real perspective, and also completing content production and emotional resonance with professional standards.

Behind this, it actually reflects the content ecosystem capabilities that Tencent NBA has built for a long time. Based on long-term copyright operation, Tencent NBA has gradually formed a content system that uses original programs, documentaries, and community to tell better NBA stories and become an important part of the "star-making" link.

In February this year, Tencent used a movie "Mamba More Than That", focusing on the story of Cui Yongxi, who recovered from serious injuries and Wang Junjie, who fought in the NCAA, to provide emotional outlets for Chinese basketball fans. "Leaping to the vastness" is a further upgrade of this strategy, which has achieved more complete content coverage in terms of production cycle, story depth and breadth.

More importantly, this is not a "review" documentary. Since Yang Hansen started very early before he ran for the election, Tencent NBA's NBA crew has continued to follow and record Yang Hansen's journey to the NBA. This long-term continuous attention not only increases the content thickness of "Leap to the Great", but also reflects Tencent's NBA's deep attention and support for the growth of Chinese basketball talents..

documentary contains many contents of Yang Hansen's life. In the global sports industry, content star-making has long become a highly industrialized system. From copyright platforms, brokers, content teams to brand parties, etc., multiple parties work together to form a closed loop. It is not simply recording and presentation, but actively participating and promoting to enhance the overall commercial value of players.

This is also the value of "Leaping to the vastness": a sample case of a sports platform's deep participation in star creation. Through "Leaping to the Extinction", Tencent NBA combines resource and technical advantages with content production, assumes the responsibility of cultivating and presenting the stories of local players, and helps the creation and dissemination of Chinese basketball IP.

In the current communication context, the power of emotional value is becoming more important than ever.

Players perform well on the court and of course they can attract fans. But if the player's story can touch people's hearts, it will be easier to form stable and lasting emotional links. What the brand pursues is to achieve deep resonance with users in such emotional scenarios.

In "Leaping to the Extreme", Yang Hansen was not deliberately "beautified". His slightly clumsy English, the "pain" during training and physical therapy, and the anxiety in the draft, pieced together a real 20-year-old young man. It is these details that make "Leaping to the Great" not only serve as a documentary, but also brings many emotional points to the audience.

So for the brand, this superposition of reality and emotions means more possibilities of "participating in star-making". In traditional sports marketing logic, most brands stay at the "exposed" level, but in content-driven communication, brands can step in and intervene in player stories to complete a long-term and continuous "emotional companionship" marketing.

For example, Li Ning and alien electrolyte water appearing in "Leaping to the Extinction" are not only sponsors of the documentary, but also an "element" in the overall story. As Yang Hansen's popularity continues to rise, the participation and popularity of these brands will continue to ferment and be discussed, completing the secondary communication path from exposure to resonance.

Especially after he logs into the NBA, the window period of content and dissemination will continue to be lengthened. His outstanding performance in the summer league has made fans at home and abroad look forward to his rookie season; the Trail Blazers coaching staff also said that Yang Hansen is expected to enter the rotation lineup in the regular season. This means that every outstanding performance in the NBA will reactivate the content assets built around him - including "Leap to the Extinction" and the brands that are deeply involved.

This is exactly the power of IP. Although it is too early to call Yang Hansen a "star", as another first-round pick in Chinese basketball since Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, he has already possessed rare attention and communication. The content ecosystem built around him will also become an important link between the platform, brand and fans, completing the resonance of emotional value and brand value.

In this sense, "Leaping to the Great" not only tells the talent show story of a player, but also provides a marketing sample: the platform creates emotional scenes through high-quality content, and the brand intervenes in the communication process through stories, thereby achieving a win-win closed loop of influence and commercial value.

In October this year, Yang Hansen will embark on his NBA rookie journey. This is not only his personal new starting point, but also a new chapter in the story of a Chinese NBA player. As an official new media partner of the NBA China, Tencent will continue to accompany and record Yang Hansen's growth trajectory in addition to the event broadcast, so that his story will continue to "leap to the vastness".