58 XTREME NBA
“We were also there to shoot a lot of the red-carpet arrivals and general footage around the game,” says Northern. “This too was delivered to the NBA’s social and digital platforms and Sky Sports. The red-carpet footage wasn’t livestreamed, but the turnaround was very quick and was delivered before half-time.” Throughout the year, Tiger Films works with the NBA in and out of game season. During off-season, it follows the NBA on their tours in Europe. “They do a lot of work in the community,” says Northern. “Last year, they had a coaching programme for youths in Slovenia, Serbia and Italy, and we were called out to film it for promotional use. We also travelled to Madrid to film some NBA legends and up-and-coming players, including Luka Doncic, who got drafted this year.” He adds: “A lot of our off-season footage is bespoke and used for archival purposes.” Game season is the busiest period for Tiger Films. During that time, it produces promotional content – which it calls ‘showdowns’ – to sit across the games that are broadcast on Sky Sports. “Everything goes across the NBA’s social and digital platforms, too, but is also sometimes picked up by European broadcasters, such as beIN Sports in France,” says Northern. EXPANSION BY OTT Growth of OTT platforms is also enabling international sports leagues, like the NBA, to establish their brand across the continent. Perform Media, which is a digital sports and content management group, will leverage the NBA’s live-game subscription service – NBA League Pass – on its own OTT platform, DAZN. This collaboration will give fans in more than 15 international markets (including Argentina, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico and Spain) the opportunity to watch NBA games in real time and provide them with
A LOT OF OUR OFF-SEASON FOOTAGE IS BESPOKE AND USED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES
localised, territory-relevant content. Perform Media has stated that its goal (or in this case, basket) is to help replicate the NBA’s astonishing success in additional markets, such as in the UK and Europe, by using the power of digital. The NBA’s presence on Twitter is well renowned. Just last year, Twitter announced the NBA was the most-tweeted-about sports league in the world. In light of that success, the NBA has also launched a partnership with Twitter that will give fans the opportunity to livestream 20 upcoming games on the social platform. But this comes with a twist. The live stream won’t provide a running commentary, nor will it show the full game. Instead, it will feature an alternative camera-angle view of a single fan-voted player in the game’s second half. Twitter will license the streams from the NBA and
Turner TNT, the broadcasting network that holds the rights to full, live games. The NBA has said the partnership will make the experience feel less like tuning into a live sporting event and more like a social activity. Laura Froelich, senior director, head of US content partnerships at Twitter, explains: “Twitter conversation has always been a complement to live action on TV. This groundbreaking partnership makes that complementary experience even richer, bringing additional views and the conversation around the game together in one place.” It’s fair to say that the NBA’s far-reaching digital sociality has pushed the league to monopolise basketball on a global scale. The NBA excels at something other sports league are still strugglling with: it has created a worldwide community through the art of digitisation.
TIGER BURNING BRIGHT: Tiger Films works with the NBA in and out of game season, creating promotional content for social media
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