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The NBA Recruits Over 200 Creators For All-Star Weekend
In the creator court // Image by Kait Cunniff with DALL-E
For this weekend’s All-Star slate of games, the NBA is bringing together over 200 digital creators to cover the action.
Why It Hits: The NBA knows its youngest fans rarely watch linear TV — and that Peacock, which is exclusively streaming the games, doesn’t exactly dominate the market. Media is simply too fragmented. So, by tapping a creator cohort that allegedly has a combined audience base of over a billion people, the league is making it almost impossible not to see All-Star content somewhere in your feed.
Behind The Smartphones: There will be more digital creators on the ground this weekend than actual pro basketball players.
Most of the 200+ creators — including Bree Green, Chris Staples, Ty Jackson, YPK Raye, and Cam Wilder — have already worked with the NBA in some capacity.
They’ll not only cover the games, but also “live broadcasts, in-arena programming, on-court competitions, and fan experiences” at both the LA Convention Center and the Intuit Dome, per the league.
All the coverage will be livestreamed or posted across the creators’ profiles, while the NBA will also stream creator-led programming on its app and official socials.
Not every creator is being paid by the league. Instead, the NBA is acting as a connector between creators and brands, resulting in a flood of separate sponsorship deals.
Final Score: Bob Carney, the NBA’s senior VP of social and digital content, told Variety the partnership is mutually beneficial. The league gets unprecedented exposure across every major platform, while creators get epic visuals, exclusive access, and plenty of content to play with.
This marshaling of digital talent is only possible because, as Carney notes, “LA is the creator capital of the world.” Take the shot when you’ve got it.
Next Game: The next era of sports-broadcast rights might feature exclusive deals with specific creators rather than keeping everything in-house. Who wouldn’t want to be the official social ambassador for the NBA?
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.