Mumbai: The National Basketball Association (NBA) has several areas of focus to grow the business. One of which is working with broadcast partners to ensure greater access. OTT is another important avenue. Grassroots activities are natural and also an important element. However, COVID did prove to be a challenge.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com NBA India business head – global content, and media distribution Sunny Malik said that like everyone, the NBA had to adapt. “Once we suspended our season in March 2020, we knew we had to do everything we could to continue engaging fans and players worldwide. The fact that we were able to do that and ultimately safely resume play in a bubble environment and crown a champion showed us that we needed to listen to the experts and follow the science and data. It also reminded us about the importance and unifying power of sports around the world.”
Rethinking engagement was important. “In India, the pandemic had a fairly significant impact on youth basketball development efforts. In a normal year, our Jr. NBA programme reaches more than six million youth in India, so we had to rethink how we could engage players across the country and help keep them active in a safe and healthy way. We ended up transitioning much of our basketball development programming to virtual sessions for players, coaches and parents, which was helpful in showing us the impact we could have through online programming.
“We also found new and creative ways to provide localised content to fans in India on the devices and platforms they use most. We began a multiyear agreement with Prasar Bharati to air NBA, WNBA and NBA G League programming on its sports channel – Doordarshan (DD) Sports – and its YouTube channel – Prasar Bharati Sports. This, combined with our reach on Viacom18’s channels and platforms, led to record broadcast viewership last season. We also continued to produce lifestyle-focused content for our channels to engage Indian fans around the fashion, music and entertainment associated with NBA culture.”
On a more positive note, he said that the company is grateful that the worst of the pandemic seems to be behind us. “It’s been a great start to the 2022-23 season, and we’re looking forward to engaging fans in India in new and creative ways in 2023 and beyond.”
Progress Made: He added that the NBA is very encouraged by the growth of basketball and our fanbase in India over the past five years. NBA games and programming on Prasar Bharati and Viacom18 reached nearly 100 million unique viewers last season, he points out. This he noted was a record for the NBA in India. “And last season, India was among the top five markets outside the U.S. and China in NBA League Pass subscriptions. Our localized social media channels also continue to grow, generating 114% more views and 100% more engagement last season than the previous one.
“Our first games in India in 2019 were a historic milestone in our efforts to grow the game here. More than four million people tuned in to watch the two games. And we continued to build on that momentum even during the pandemic. Last year, we named Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh as the NBA Brand Ambassador for India, which has seen him travel to a number of our marquee events around the world and create content for his and our channels, which has been instrumental in helping us expand our reach, particularly among casual fans.
Overall, we know there’s a lot more to do, but we’re proud of our progress so far and excited about the future of basketball and the NBA in India.”
The partnership with Viacom18: He said that the NBA is very pleased with its collaboration with Viacom18, which he explains provides comprehensive coverage of the NBA’s regular season, “Playoffs and marquee events in English and Hindi across television and over-the-top streaming. And they’ve been great about continuing to innovate in order to provide the best possible viewing experience to fans in India. Earlier this season, Viacom18 unveiled a new NBA marketing campaign entitled, “Morning Time Is Baller Time,” headlined by Ranveer Singh. The Viacom18 team also travelled to our first-ever games in Abu Dhabi in October and will continue to work closely with us on a variety of initiatives.
As the season progresses, we look forward to working with Viacom18 to find new and creative ways to engage fans across the country.”
Local Content: The NBA he said produces a variety of original, localised, in-language content to engage fans and connect them with their favourite teams and players. “As I mentioned, our collaboration with Prasar Bharati sees non-live NBA, WNBA and NBA G League programming across its sports channel – Doordarshan (DD) Sports – and its YouTube channel – Prasar Bharati Sports.
Another example is our “NBA India Weekly” show that airs on the NBA India Twitter and YouTube channels and provides fans with a one-stop destination for all things basketball and the NBA, including the on-court action, the popular culture around today’s game, as well as local stories about Indian basketball and the communities around it.
And finally, our new NBA Style Instagram account showcases the many ways that the league and its players influence and are influenced by music, fashion, art and entertainment. In one year, we’ve managed to grow this highly-engaged community to nearly 100,000 fans that generated more than one billion impressions last season. These are just a few examples, and we’re committed to providing more localized content to fans in India in the months and years to come.”
OTT: He added that in order to reach new and existing fans across the country, the NBA needs to ensure that NBA games and programming are accessible across a variety of platforms and mediums. “India currently has 424 million over-the-top (OTT) viewers, roughly 30 per cent of the country. And as 5G service continues to grow in the country, that number is expected to continue to increase, which means the NBA needs to be widely available on OTT platforms. That’s why this season we have selected games live streaming for free on JioCinema, which allows for a wider audience to watch our games.
For the league, direct-to-consumer is a critically important part of the future of our business. It’s why we’re so excited about our new and improved NBA App that was rolled out globally at the start of the 2022-23 season, which offers fans more ways to engage with the league through premium content, wall-to-wall highlights and a new league membership program, NBA ID. It’s also important to remember that we’ve had a direct-to-consumer service in NBA League Pass, the league’s premium out-of-market live game service, for nearly 14 years.”
Grassroots Activities: Grassroots basketball development he said has been and will continue to be critical to the long-term growth in India. “We know that local heroes are important for any sport, and basketball is no different. That’s why we’ve built a predictable pathway for young boys and girls in India to learn the game and maximize their potential over the last decade.
Our international basketball development strategy is a grassroots to high performance system. As players develop, they can progress from the Jr. NBA and NBA Basketball School (youth) to Basketball Without Borders Asia and NBA Academy India (elite), and ultimately to the national team and professional leagues around the world. Though we had to pause in-person programming during the pandemic, we’ve since resumed our Jr. NBA program that has reached more than 11 million youth and 13,000 physical education instructors across 34 cities nationwide since its launch in 2013. The 2022 edition included both in-person and virtual programming for schools across the country and featured appearances by NBA, WNBA and NBA G League players, legends and coaches, who engaged participants in skill development, leadership and life skills sessions.
And at the elite level, we’ve resumed our national scouting program – ACG-NBA Jump – which identifies top prospects across the country to attend NBA Academy India. From there, graduates can earn scholarships to prep schools, junior colleges or universities in the U.S, or sign professional contracts like Princepal Singh, who was the first NBA Academy graduate to sign with the NBA G League and first NBA Academy India graduate to sign a professional contract, and Amaan Sandhu, who recently became the first Indian-born male player to receive a scholarship to an NCAA Division I university and is in his freshman year at Monmouth University in New Jersey.
All in all, we think we’re just scratching the surface of our talent identification and development efforts in India and that it’s only a matter of time before an Indian player makes it to the NBA or WNBA.”
