Explore the best of NBA. NBA is one of the most successful sports leagues across the world. In this report, we take a closer look at what NBA is doing to maintain leader status and stay relevant with their audience.

1. snapshot
the best of
NBA league
Explore the best of NBA. NBA is one of the most successful
sports leagues across the world.
In this report, we take a closer look at what NBA is doing to
maintain leader status and stay relevant with their audience.
SIGNMESH.COMSNAPSHOTMARCH2018

2. introduction
INTRODUCTION
NBA is one of the dominating sports leagues across
the world despite the fact that its only played in the
US and Canada. What contributes to their success?
Which trends does the NBA utilize? Explore our
newest report to find out what makes NBA so
successful and learn from their best practices.
— A Few facts about NBA
Learn about the success of the league across the
years, countries and various activities.
— What is NBA doing right?
Explore best practices of the NBA, clustered
according to current relevant trends.
— What’s the takeout?
Find out what your business can learn from the
NBA’s success.

3. content
1
a few facts
about NBA
2
what is NBA
doing right?
3
what’s the
takeout?
CONTENT

4. a few facts
about NBA
INTRODUCTION
1

5. NBA is composed
of 30 teams -
29 teams in the
United States
and 1 in Canada
ABOUTNBA
30
29 1
Source: Wikipedia

6. 0
2
4
6
8
2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17
7,37
5,87
5,18
4,79
4,56
3,68
3,96
Total NBA league revenue* from 2010/11 to 2016/17 (in billion U.S. dollars)
NBA League
revenue
constantly grows
In the 2016/17 season all 30
league teams combined
generated NBA revenues of
about 7.37 billion U.S dollars -
almost triple the revenue from
2001/02 season (2.66 billion U.S
dollars).
Source: Statista
ABOUTNBA

7. The NBA continues to be
a success with
younger viewers
“This is a very tough, coveted demographic we’re talking about here, and a tough one to reach in a
linear way,” said Turner Sports ad sales evp Jon Diament. “NBA fans do not watch traditional TV.
They’re often male, young and millennial. … They typically don’t have the traditional viewing
patterns that you’ll find in the TV landscape. Then, there’s the viewership offline, on social and on
digital, whether it’s the live games or anything around the league. That’s exploding as well.”
INTRODUCTION
Source: Awful Announcing
ABOUTNBA

8. NBA ranks #1 in the
use of social media
across all major
sports leagues,
increasing the value
of its collective
social media
footprint by 25
percent over last
year.
#1in the use
of social media
Source: MVPindex
ABOUTNBA

9. How does the
NBA win global
audience?
108international players
Source: The Washington Post
At the end of 2016/17 season, 108
international players
representing a record 42
countries were on opening-night
rosters and every team included
at least one foreign-born player.
Such success wouldn’t be
possible without the game’s
deep-seated cultural roots
abroad. countries
42
ABOUTNBA

10. The NBA has been ranked
most powerful sports
organization in China
The NBA’s WeChat account is the most followed sports
account on the platform, attracting around 1 million total
readers, while the organization’s Weibo profile has more than
33 million followers – more than its Twitter following.
INTRODUCTION
Source: The Drum
ABOUTNBA

11. NBA social
accounts
collectively
generated nearly
$444 million of
value for brands
(2016/17)
$444million
Source: MVPindex
ABOUTNBA

12. what is NBA
doing right?
INTRODUCTION
2

13. INTRODUCTION
EXCEPTIONAL
STORYTELLING
CUTTING-EDGE
TECHNOLOGY
PERSONALIZED
EXPERIENCES
TOTAL FAN
INVOLVEMENT
INTERACTIVE
EXPERIENCES
what is NBA doing right?
BESTPRACTICES

14. personalized
experiences
NBA is always staying on top of the things
their audience expects and wishes for
BESTPRACTICES

15. BESTPRACTICES
NBA’s Ambitious
Data Team
Since launching their Customer data
Strategy group the sports league
have been able to leverage their
capabilities with data and analytics.
They know their fans want an even
closer interactions with their team,
so by finding new ways to access
and apply consumer data they've
been able to provide closer, more
personalized connections. An
example of this in action is Orlando
Magic’s team mobile app (a team
who has been capitalizing on data
for years), which allows ticket
holders to offer their seats in return
for “Magic Money” which they can
use for future seat upgrades. In
return, the team receives insights
about fan preferences.
Source: http://signme.sh/-KDoZ3Me9

16. NBA Consider
Shortening
Games For
Millennials
Research has consistently shown
that people's attention spans,
especially those brought up in a
world of technology, are getting
shorter. Microsoft's 2015 study
revealed it was down to just 8
seconds in the millennial generation.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has
acknowledged this, and a general
concern about the formats of games.
For example, some games have
timeout after timeout, making what
would have been 30 seconds of
game play last for around 10 minutes.
Source: http://signme.sh/QIa0ZWyhX
BESTPRACTICES

17. interactive
experiences
Whether outside or during the events, NBA
knows how to interactively engage their fans
BESTPRACTICES

18. NBA Stream On
Twitch
The start of the NBA’s
experimentation with how games
look and sound is a new live
streaming channel on Twitch for
their “G-League” games, their minor
league with up to six games being
shown per week.
This move is a bid to reach and
engage a younger audience.
Viewers are even able to call up
interactive graphics while streaming
games with player and team data,
and any interactivity with streams
rewards them with “loyalty points.”
Source: http://signme.sh/8JYkio-uO
BESTPRACTICES

19. NBA Team’s
Tinder Night
The Hawks, one of the most
creative NBA teams on social media,
are putting on a “Swipe Right Night”
for single fans in the arena looking
to make a match while supporting
their favorite team. The Tinder-
sponsored night seems to be the
first (gauging from its reception,
probably not the last) crossover of
professional sports events and
online matchmaking.
Source: http://signme.sh/fYnb6Rr7-
BESTPRACTICES

20. exceptional
storytelling
NBA creates outstanding stories by partnering
up with experts in the field or by using the
newest tech to create the best experiences
BESTPRACTICES

21. A Series Of
Stories With NBA
And Vice
NBA and Vice will collaborate to
begin creating original shows which
will tell stories from the world of
basketball, about stars of the game
and where they grew up, how they
trained and reached the big leagues.
The first in the series was “The Way
We Ball” and featured players
including Joel Embiid, Emmanuel
Mudiay, and Jamal Murray who
shared their journeys to becoming
top level players. The aim of the
videos will be to explore “global
youth culture and sports through
the lens of NBA players.”
Source: http://signme.sh/zR4FuPkkh
BESTPRACTICES

22. NBA Goes VR
Starting in February 2018, network
Turner Sports and Intel broadcast
weekly NBA games in virtual reality.
Intel will be the exclusive provider of
VR for NBA on TNT, creating live VR
content. Viewers need to download
the NBA on TNT VR app on Oculus
and Google Play stores and use it
with their Samsung Gear VR and
Google Daydream headsets. They
can then watch the games from
multiple angles and in 360 degree,
enabling them to pause the game
and watch it from a player’s point of
view on the court.
Source: http://signme.sh/zYimjdpQH
BESTPRACTICES

23. cutting-edge
tech
NBA is always on top of things when it
comes to the adaptation of new
technologies
BESTPRACTICES

24. Nike’s Connected
Jersey
NBA (National Basketball
Association) fans can now support
their favorite player by buying their
corresponding jersey, and have
access to exclusive and curated
highlights for their player. Owners
of Nike’s NBA Connected Jersey
simply need to download the app,
and are then able to tap their
smartphone on the jersey’s tag to
immediately gain insider access to
the game with personalized
content, offers and even game
tickets.
Source: http://signme.sh/CqizbhIKr
BESTPRACTICES

25. Augmented
Reality Game By
NBA
As many major companies have
started to experiment with AR
recently, NBA is the next one to join
the league with its very own game.
For playing the game users need to
download an app, which scans users’
surroundings and install an
“authentic” NBA basketball
backboard and hoop. Users need to
just “flick” to throw at the hoop with
the goal of sinking as many shots as
possible in 30 seconds of
time. “We’ve always said that
basketball can be played virtually
anywhere – and today that takes on
an expanded meaning.”
Source: http://signme.sh/ga3c0dtF5
BESTPRACTICES

26. total fan
involvement
NBA involves their fans in both: content
creation and matches or related events
BESTPRACTICES

27. NBA Playmakers
Launches Online
Community For
Content Creation
The NBAPlaymakers platform
curated by National
Basketball Association and
BroadbandTV is based on content
created by sports enthusiasts. The
aim is to develop an online space
that would be based on
crowdsourcing principle. In return
for providing b-ball content, the
creators will receive exclusive
insights into all 30 NBA teams, as
well as preferred pricing on game
tickets and team apparel. So far, over
50.000 playmakers joined the
ecosystem.
Source: http://signme.sh/ga3c0dtF5
BESTPRACTICES

28. Fans Vote For
NBA All-Stars
To first gather rosters of players to
then be selected by the coaches of
each all-star team (named Team
Stephen and Team LeBron), fans had
a chance to really influence the
starter choices. They would make up
50% of the votes, while NBA players
and the media would each make up
25%.
They were able to vote via a number
of channels, via the NBA website and
app, on Facebook, Twitter, Google
Search, Amazon Alexa and on Sina
Weibo and Tencent, with all current
NBA players available to be selected
on every platform.
Source: http://signme.sh/5sZSbd8WF
BESTPRACTICES

29. what’s the
takeout?
THETAKEOUT
3

30. NBA is a sports league based in US and Canada and yet it’s always
been wildly successful all over the world - especially with the youth.
What is NBA doing right and what can we learn from their marketing
and business approach?
IMPLICATIONS
data-driven approach
NBA continues to master their data-
driven mindset by skillfully collecting
data with the right use of technology,
cataloguing everything and later on
using it effectively for communication
and fan experience. With this approach
NBA is making the whole brand
experience extremely personalized and
tailored to almost every viewer.
implications
global outlook
NBA manages to engage fans worldwide
by effective use of marketing, especially by
localizing social media content for every
country. Their social media footprint is not
the only thing they do right. The NBA
league employs players from all over the
world not only to play but also to share
content and interact with fans to give them
a relatable figure within the NBA.
fast adaptation
Whether it’s a new social media channel,
new tech, new ways of storytelling or
activism of their players, the NBA is well
known for its fast and relevant
adaptation of new approaches. In this
way, the league ‘buys’ the loyalty of the
young viewers and stays on top of their
game through always being in the focus
of young fans.

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