Linmania is penetrating basketball markets across the world. Image via The Remix Kid
Linmania has basketball by the balls. The infectious story of an American lad of Taiwanese descent has gripped basketball fans everywhere. But how has the Linfluence spread throughout Asia? And how does this compare to the pan-Asian appeal of the NBA’s biggest Chinese player, Yao Ming? Geographic search volumes provide some clues.
The search data shows that Lin’s appeal reaches well beyond both his homeland (United States) and ancestry (Taiwan). Fans in Singapore, Hong Kong, Phillipines, Malaysia and South Korea are getting caught up in the Lin whirlwind.
Google Linsights
This is a very different story to that of Chinese NBA player Yao Ming (chart below). At Yao’s pre-injury height in 2004, he failed to engage Asia outside of China (where search volume isn’t not measured by Google for obvious reasons).
This differential leads to a couple of hypotheses around why the Asian world has been so captivated by Jeremy Lin – but not so by Yao Ming.
1. Relatability Theory – It was impossible to relate to Yao because his main asset – his height – is physically unachievable. In contrast, the Linderella story has a sense of accessibility. That could be anyone out there.
2. Red Wall Theory - Within Asia, there’s a significant cultural divide between China and the rest of what we think of as Asia. In my (limited) Asian travel experience, I’ve found that within Asia, the term “Asian” actually excludes Chinese. Being of Taiwanese descent,
3. Diaspora Theory (suggested by Joy Leaper) – Lin’s appeal reaches beyond basketball, but speaks to Asain aspirations to make it in the USA.
Or maybe there’s an entirely different factor at play. What do you reckon?
Google Mingsights
