Become a video star with help from the NBA
NEW YORK—The National Basketball Association is reaching out to its most passionate fans who also may have the digital talents to become video stars.
On Tuesday, the league announced NBA Playmakers, meant to be a community for video creators who focus on the sport and on how it ties in with culture—music, fashion, video games, and fitness.
The NBA describes NBA Playmakers as a first-of-its-kind millennial video network that will provide the creator community and fans the opportunity to produce basketball-related content and share it across the NBA Playmakers network, which spans YouTube, the NBA’s digital assets, and other platforms.
The NBA is teaming up with BroadbandTV on this latest initiative, a media and technology company that amasses 15.1 billion views per month across its network. BBTV has been managing the NBA-related videos fans upload to YouTube since 2009.
As part of the venture, the NBA is “drawing a distinction between a YouTube star and your every fan,” says NBA Vice President for Global Media Distribution Jeff Marsilio
In fact, the league is not looking to accept just any video uploaded by fans. Content creators must apply to be part of the venture, and there’ll be a vetting process, with the league screening videos and looking at the videos and channels potential applicants have already produced online. “You have to demonstrate a desire to be a creator in the social media space,” Marsilio says.
The NBA may also actively recruit creators it finds online.
You can learn more at www.nbaplaymakers.tv.
NBA Playmakers will tip off by the start of the next NBA season in the fall.
So what kind of content might you see? By way of example, the league mentioned impersonator Brandon Armstrong, who does impressions of NBA stars.
They mentioned fans showing off trick shots in their videos, or others who star at the NBA 2K video game. Fans might supply video commentary on players and teams, not necessarily all positive.
What you can’t do is sit in the stands at an arena, shoot the action below and upload it—the NBA will continue to protect its own licensed content.
Still, the league may make some highlight packages available to NBA Playmakers creators for use in their own videos. The league also plans to offer other benefits, perhaps tickets to NBA games or other events, sneakers or other NBA apparel, maybe a peek at the next version of a video game. Marsilio also said that the NBA may share financial benefits with creators, but wouldn't offer any specifics.
It’s not unusual for the major sports leagues to try and meet young fans in the digital platforms where they hang out. Just last week, the National Football League announced that it was uploading a number of classic NFL games YouTube, three of the “greatest games in the history of each of the 32 clubs.”
For its part, the NBA says select videos will live on its own YouTube channel, also named NBA Playmakers. The existing NBA YouTube channel, which the new Playmakers channel will complement, has generated more than 3.4 billion views. The NBA claims that is the most of any U.S. professional sports league. As Marsilio says “digitally connected fans … are our best marketers.”
Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow Paste BN Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter