- The National Basketball Association (NBA) is significantly increasing the amount of league produced content related to sports betting.
- The NBA has recently debuted the first league produced studio show dedicated to ‘betting focused information and analysis’ called NBABet presented by BetMGM.
- They’ve also launched a broader content initiative called ‘NBA Bet’ that will see a dedicated area of the NBA app and website providing an assortment of betting related content.
The NBA has already done more than any other US major professional sports league to leverage betting and now they’re going to deliver even more. They’ve announced a betting content initiative called ‘NBA Bet’ that will bring extensive wagering relating content to the entirety of the league’s ecosystem. The first offering under this content plan has already debuted–the league’s first betting focused live TV show called NBABet presented by BetMGM. As you can no doubt surmise from the name of the program, the show will exclusively feature odds from BetMGM.
Here’s the press release announcing the initiative from the NBA website. Interestingly, no quotes from anyone:
NBA Digital today announced a new “NBA Bet” content initiative, which will feature the debut of a weekly NBA TV show and betting-focused content across NBA.com, the NBA App and social platforms.
As part of this multi-platform offering, the NBA, Turner Sports and BetMGM will premiere NBA TV’s first live studio show dedicated to betting-focused information and analysis – NBABet presented by BetMGM – beginning Friday, May 21, at 6:30 p.m. ET. The 30-minute weekly show launches the day before the NBA Playoffs tip off and will continue through the first two rounds of the Playoffs.
Based out of WarnerMedia Studios in Atlanta, the show’s quick-hitting format will feature league-wide NBA betting analysis and breakdowns from experts across the industry. As the presenting partner of NBABet, BetMGM’s data feed will be integrated and the latest BetMGM NBA odds will be shown throughout each show.
In the second round of the playoffs, NBA.com and the NBA App will feature a new NBABet section, which will include editorial content for fans from content partners such as Action Network, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo Sports, among others. The weekly show will also be available to NBA TV subscribers.
The NBA is also launching a new social media account, @NBABet, which will be programmed by Action Network. @NBABet will engage NBA fans with video segments, highlights, analysis, insights, trends and more – all from a betting perspective.Over the past two seasons, NBA Digital has offered NBABet Stream, an alternate betting-focused telecast for NBA League Pass and NBA TV subscribers, which has featured betting focused graphics and commentary from experts from Action Network, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo Sports.
On a symbolic level, this is a big deal as none of the other North American major sports leagues have made a significant move into delivering betting related content. They’ve gladly picked up revenue where they can in the form of ‘Official Betting Partners’–and the NBA has plenty of those too–but until now have not integrated betting focused content into their public facing channels. You can expect the other leagues to quickly follow suit. Furthermore, anything that further penetrates sports betting into the US mainstream is a net positive.
On a practical level, there’s not much to get excited about. Since the NBA is ‘outsourcing’ the betting related content to ‘content partners’ it doesn’t appear that they’ll have anything that can’t be found at the original source. This is a common misconception among mainstream sports and media entities that are getting into the betting world. It looks as if many such entities think that just labeling repurposed content with something related to ‘betting’ will suffice. In reality, what works is unique high quality betting relating content. That’s tougher to find–and particularly if you don’t know where to look.
