The National Basketball Association announced a multi-year extension of its partnership with Twitter and Turner Sports that will put more live game content and highlights on the social media platform.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The NBA was the first major sports league with a Twitter presence 10 years ago and #NBATwitter remains a strong channel for fans to interact with other fans and with players and share highlights.
Last year, Twitter began live streaming the second halves of some of Turner’s NBA game telecasts, with fans voting to decide which player will be the focus of the Twitter feed.
This season, former player Channing Frye will serve as analyst for #NBATitterLive along side a rotating panel of NBA influencers.
“As early adopters of the social platform, it is exciting to see the #NBATwitter community grow into one of the largest and most active social media fan bases in the world,” said Sam Farber, NBA VP Digital Media. “As part of our extended partnership, #NBATwitter will drive interest in live NBA games, inform fans where to watch the action and bring fans closer to the league, teams and players through the NBA on TNT second-screen streaming experience.”
This season, the NBA and Twitter launched a series of new highlight franchises and more live content, including player pregame warmups. For the first time, Twitter will have Q&As for the playoffs and Finals. Fans also are now able to vote on their favorite plays, moments and teams to watch during pregame warmups.
“#NBATwitter is in a league of its own, as one of the most engaged and influential sports communities on Twitter. We're excited to deepen our partnership with the NBA by bringing new and improved LIVE game streams, interactive voting polls, as well as the best of the best NBA highlights to further ignite #NBATwitter conversation,” said TJ Adeshola, head of U.S. sports partnerships at Twitter. “This partnership is a perfect match. Not only does it give fans more of what they want to see, it provides an ideal canvas for marketers to connect with what's happening in the NBA, on Twitter."
Since joining Twitter in 2009, the NBA has built one of the largest Twitter communities in the world, with more than 437 million followers globally across all league, team and player platforms.
