Press Release World Baseball Softball Confederation
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the world governing body of baseball and softball, today announced the launch of official Chinese-, Japanese- and Korean-language wbsc.org websites.
All WBSC content and features — such as news, press releases, the international calendar, Baseball World Cup™ microsites, WBSC World Rankings and historical information — are now accessible to fans, media, broadcasters/TV announcers and worldwide audiences across five languages, helping to shape a consistent voice and raise further awareness of the WBSC brand and its international sport properties.
The activation of the three new websites — Chinese, Japanese and Korean
— expands upon versions in English and Spanish, the official languages of WBSC.
Video titles and descriptions from WBSC’s official YouTube channel (youtube.com/wbsc) will also be translated and available in the five languages for optimised search and discovery results, and enhanced audience-engagement and global watch time. WBSC’s YouTube channel has been viewed by users from 136 countries and territories within the last 30 days.
“WBSC is committed to increasing the connection and services to the global baseball and softball community, and to making our world sport even more inclusive,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. “The addition of these three languages will help better serve key baseball/softball markets and increase media exposure and value for WBSC’s partners while shining a brighter spotlight on the National Teams and players in our Baseball World Cups and Softball World Championships.”
Social media posts via WBSC have already employed a multi-language strategy dating back to the 2015 Premier12 global flagship in Japan and Taiwan last November, which generated over 2 billion impressions — the highest number ever recorded for an international baseball event — and US$ 131 million in brand exposure for WBSC and its partners.
The 2016 international calendar includes:
Baseball
- WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup in Iwaki, Japan – 29 Jul to 7 Aug
- WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup in Gijang, Korea – 3-11 Sept
- WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup in Monterey, Mexico – 28 Oct to 6 Nov
Softball
- WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship in Surrey, Canada – 15-24 Jul
- WBSC Junior U-19 Men’s Softball World Championship in Midland, USA – 24-26 Jul