Before winning gold at Rio 2016, the USA men's and women's basketball teams played exhibition games in preparation, games that streamed live on Facebook.
From July 22 to Aug. 1, Facebook streamed five men's and four women's games against international challengers. The games were live-streamed on the NBA and the USA Basketball Facebook pages, as well as the NBA TV site. Although that last option required authentication, the two Facebook pages were open to all.
Although partnering by social platforms and sports is still in the experimental phase, the goal is to create new options for fans to watch their favorite teams. As ReCode reported, the nine exhibition games attracted 7 million views (a view being a viewing session of at least three seconds). Of the nine games, the top draw was the men's match against China on July 24.
Facebook has made video a central focus and welcomes the experimentation taking place with sports broadcasters.
Our mission is to connect fans to the content they love most, says Devi Mahadevia, head of global sports league partnerships, Facebook. With 650 million sports fans on Facebook globally, we are excited to uncover more innovative ways to provide fans with a unique, immersive, and engaging experience. Sports partners globally - leagues, teams, media, athletes - continue to test various formats of live content on our platform - from interviews and Q&As to behind-the-scenes on game days to live games - to drive new areas of growth, fan reach, and engagement.
To watch the live games, Facebook members needed to be a fan of the NBA or USA Basketball. Then the videos appeared automatically in their newsfeeds. It's a simpler interface than hunting down a stream on Twitter. Although Mahadevia can't say exactly what lessons the basketball live streams taught the video team at Facebook, she notes, We are constantly learning from all of our partners, from sports to entertainment to news, around how people interact with live content and assessing product changes to create the best experience.
Facebook has paid deals in place with some publishers and content owners, but the exhibition basketball games weren't a paid arrangement. Verizon was the presenting sponsor, and the payment went to the NBA, not Facebook. The NBA and NBA TV produced the games and all related branded-content integration, then delivered the feed to Facebook using the Live API. The NBA handled the ads during the events, as well as third-party branding elements. Hosts mentioned that Verizon would supply content in the commercial breaks, and the NBA included branding in all segments with preproduced video or in-arena streams.
The NBA used Livestream software for some of the events and Tricaster for others, but Facebook didn't work with any outside vendors on these videos.
A big part of succeeding on social platforms is using their toolsets to create a unique experience for the viewer. A Facebook stream needs to feel distinctly like a Facebook stream.
Facebook Live has interactive elements built into the product, such as Live Reactions and inviting friends to watch the Live. These features are available for all live videos on the platform, Mahadevia explains. Live Reactions makes it easy for your viewers to express their feelings in real time during a live broadcast. Using the same reactions, we launched in News Feed; viewers can select Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, or Angry; and the reactions animate right on top of the video. Live Reactions disappear quickly so broadcasters and other viewers can get a sense of how people are feeling at different points during the live video. It's like hearing the crowd applaud and cheer. When your friend reacts to your video or to a video you are both watching together, you'll see their profile pic and a little starburst before their reaction appears.
The big question for the Facebook team going into these games was, do people want to watch long, live sports events on its platform? The results put a smile on their faces.
Initial results indicated that fans are interested in engaging with longer-form sports content on our platform and that we can help support viewership globally, Mahadevia explains. We will continue to explore these kinds of experiences and help partners develop innovative content strategies on Facebook to drive more fan reach and engagement.
That's good news for sports fans, because it means more live games coming to the social network - hopefully, with no authentication required.
Says Mahadevia, We will continue to test various forms of live sports content on Facebook with our partners.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
Before winning gold at Rio 2016, the USA men's and women's basketball teams played exhibition games in preparation, games that streamed live on Facebook.
