Connected convenience

He woke up on the couch countless times with an aching head and bloodshot eyes after catching matches at unearthly hours, but this year's World Cup was still one of the best experiences for Chinese soccer fan Du Peng.

"I could play online games, follow the sports lottery and check background information on Lionel Messi," the IT engineer in Beijing said, referring to his favorite Argentine player.

Du, 27, did all of that via his Internet TV setup at home.

"Compared with the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when I could follow the matches only on my traditional TV set and check the rest of the information online through my computer, this year was much more convenient," he said.

Du also planned his viewing schedule through on-demand options and reminders from his devices.

As China's official video-on-demand supplier for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, state broadcaster CCTV enabled iCNTV.tv, the online video provider under China Network Television authorized by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, to exclusively broadcast the 64 games on the Internet TV platform for millions of viewers across the country.

"It marked the first time we provided global games through television and the Web," said Zhang Yuxia, CEO of Future TV Co Ltd, which operated iCNTV.tv.

"To better meet the demand from our users in the era of new media, we explored novel collaborative patterns with other outlets to help fuel the latest Internet TV industry trends."

By cooperating with social app provider Tencent Holdings Ltd, users of Future TV could also connect their WeChat accounts to Internet TV for easy access to the programs and games. Similar cooperation with online video portal UUSee.com tapped a database of 736 soccer players, team scores and online football games for users like Du.

Contact the writers at baowanxian@chinadaily.com.cn