NBA Expands Twitch Deal To USA Basketball Coverage

The NBA has expanded its partnership with streaming giant Twitch to include USA Basketball and the American national teams.

The deal follows on from the success the two sides had with NBA 2K League, which concluded its second season on Saturday, and the G-League.

Forbes reports:

As part of a multi-year deal, Twitch men’s USA Basketball exhibition games this month leading up to September’s FIBA World Cup in China, as well as training camps for its men’s and women’s teams, select USA Basketball 3×3 games and the 2020 Nike Hoops Summit. Monetary figures for the rights deal were not disclosed by the league.

Among the many reasons the NBA agreed to yet another deal with the Amazon-owned Twitch, according to David Denenberg, the league’s senior vice president of  global media distribution and business affairs, is how the site serves an audience that’s hard to reach.

“They really reach young people, and they do it in a very innovative way,” Denenberg said. “At the NBA, we’re very focused on innovation and we like the audience and the ideas that Twitch brings to the table.”

One major feature that worked with consumers during Twitch’s G-League broadcasts was co-streaming, where users can essentially do their own commentary on the live games, keeping within the site’s overarching live stream theme.

“It’s just an interesting way to look at things,” Denenberg said. “Co-streaming has been really well received by our audience and we think is a really cool aspect to what they bring to the table.”

This is the first time USA Basketball has reached a digital rights partnership for its games aside from its regular linear telecasts, something the NBA hasn’t concentrated on until now.

You can read the full story here.