Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Live From the NBA Draft: NBA Digital Puts Social on the Floor With Multiple Sets

21/06/2019

Live From the NBA Draft: NBA Digital Puts Social on the Floor With Multiple Sets The social-media circuit moves from behind the scenes to front and center By Kristian Hernandez, Assistant Editor

Friday, June 21, 2019 - 10:32 am

Print This Story

Story Highlights

Last night at the NBA Draft, the social-media world once again exploded with hot takes, player profiles, and collegiate-highlight reels. With the event's popularity on the rise, the team at NBA Digital has made some changes in its onsite presence, shifting its behind-the-scenes activities to the limelight in the form of two physical sets visited by players moving along their path of media obligations.

Fresh Tape built a miniature replica of the Draft stage, complete with Draft board and commissioner podium.

Last year, Bob Carney [VP, emerging media, NBA] thought that some of the most interesting parts of the Draft happen backstage, where fans can't see it. says Melissa Brenner, EVP, digital media, NBA. One of them are these social-media booths, which we had set up where the players would come through the Brooklyn Nets weight room. [This year,] it's such a great moment because you get to see the player walk across the stage.

A Primetime Stop on the Media Trail

In the beginning, digital coverage of the NBA Draft was not nearly as complex and thorough as it is now. And, Brenner notes, the procedure of getting the job done was rigid and rudimentary.

[The players] would talk in a confessional style to the camera about their family, how they were feeling, and what [this night] meant in their journey, she says. There would be a lot of clerical and administrative things that would go on where you would make sure that you check-marked [all of your boxes] for Twitter and Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

My Family!! #NBADraft

A post shared by NBA (@nba) on Jun 20, 2019 at 8:41pm PDT

--

Today, the NBA has broadened its creative palette and established a primetime location on the media trail. An onsite NBA TV show interviews the selected player moments after Commissioner Adam Silver makes the announcement. When the short segment concludes, the player encounters two sets that capture the unforgettable moment of becoming a professional athlete. The league tapped Fresh Tape, a Denver-based creative agency specializing in studio sets, to construct them, which took 20 hours over two days to complete.

The first is a reduced-scale replica of the stage, including the familiar NBA Draft board and commissioner podium. The player expressed feelings of gratitude to and appreciation of the person or people who most impacted his trajectory. After concluding the message, the player wrote down a phrase with his signature and placed the plank on the replica Draft board.

Next was the Twitter-centric social stop, which incorporated elements of a basketball court and the hashtag symbol that has become synonymous with the platform. Here, the player chose a hashtag phrase that best described his thoughts and feelings immediately after being drafted into the NBA.

Welcome to the NBA, @Zionwilliamson! #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/bMsGdSBRBQ

- NBA (@NBA) June 21, 2019

Live vs. Edited: Finding the Proper Application

To cover the entire event as efficiently as possible, Brenner and company blended scheduled posting and real-time recordings.

Some of [the posts] are live, [and] others are edited [by a backstage edit team]. It's a little bit up to the producer to decide what [is shot live] due to the noise of the arena and how we think the audio is, she said. Usually, we prefer to cut and trim [the footage] because, with some platforms, we have to be really [time-]sensitive.

In addition, an all-hands-on-deck approach was required. Besides the scripted stations on the main floor, other platforms -Instagram, Facebook, YouTube - covered different aspects of the Draft, such as the fashion sense of No. 4 overall pick and future New York Knick RJ Barrett.

View this post on Instagram

@rjbarrett shows off the #NBADraft suit details!

A post shared by NBA (@nba) on Jun 20, 2019 at 12:19pm PDT

--

Everybody is a content person, [even] people who are not normally staffed to the digital department. [For example,] I'll walk by someone and send [a picture] to one of our lead users and say, Hey, I found this, Brenner says. It usually doesn't make [our social-media channels], but, for the one or two times that it does, I feel pretty great because I got something [that] they thought was high-quality.

First-Person Accounts: Leveraging Players' Followings

Although the NBA pushed out a majority of the content generated on Draft Night, the players who experienced the pomp and circumstance provided first-hand commentary on the festivities with the help of basic re-tweeting and Greenfly, a league partner that offers an avenue for reliable content-sharing between two parties.

The hashtag was the focus of the NBA's Twitter-centric media stop.

This technology allows us to send content to players and players to send content to us really seamlessly. Our players have huge followings - in many cases, larger than the NBA or our teams, says Brenner. The [Philadelphia] 76ers have actually mobilized their whole staff with over 100 content producers to help tell a story that's bigger than what's happening here. [Also,] we'll be talking to the [newly drafted players] at the Rookie Transition Program on what Greenfly is so we can get them onboard. It's been a great symbiotic relationship.

Moving on Up: From Behind Curtains to the Draft Floor

The inner workings of NBA Digital's Draft coverage have grown exponentially. And, in a league that is fully embracing and diving deep into the depths of social media, NBA Digital's Draft Day schedule is expected to become even busier.

When Sam Farbe
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/06/21/live-from-the-nba-draft-nba-dig...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

11/06/2026

HBSs Johannes Franken on Digital Innovations, the Role of the Influencer at the 2026 FIFA World Cup

The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...

11/06/2026

Nielsen: Soccer Fandom in North America Tops 136 Million, Up 10.9% in Five Years

Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...

11/06/2026

Telemundo Announces All-Day Opening Day Coverage for FIFA World Cup 2026 on June 11

Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...

11/06/2026

Fubo Announces Distribution Agreement With NBCUniversal

FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...

11/06/2026

DAZN Announces In-App Features for FIFA World Cup 2026 Coverage in Spain, Italy, and Japan

DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...

11/06/2026

Roblox Report: Sports Engagement on Platform Drives Real-World Fandom and Purchases

Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...

11/06/2026

Andrea Bocelli, David Guetta, Megan Thee Stallion, and EJAE Release Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem DNA'

FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...

11/06/2026

ESPN Announces Extensive English- and Spanish-Language World Cup 2026 Coverage

ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...

11/06/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Teddy Batkin, Rochester Institute of Technology

The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering In...

11/06/2026

DAZN and DSPORTS Announce Distribution Agreement Across Five Latin American Countries

DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...

11/06/2026

Resource Actors Throughout the Years at Sundance Institute's Directors Lab

Laura Dern at the 1986 Sundance Institute Directors Lab (Photo by Eric Edwards) By Lucy Spicer It takes a village to bring together the Sundance Institute lab...

11/06/2026

Introducing a New Standard for Podcast Plays and Upgraded Creator Analytics Experience

As podcast formats evolve in the streaming era, podcasting needs updated, transp...

11/06/2026

RADAR Italia Unveils 6 New Artists and a New Approach for 2026

As Spotify's global RADAR program enters its sixth year in Italy, a new class of artists is stepping into the spotlight. Today, we're announcing the six...

11/06/2026

5 Audiobooks that Amplify and Celebrate Queer Voices

Pride Month is a time for celebration, reflection, and amplifying the diverse stories and perspectives from the LGBTQIA+ community that enrich our world. To hel...

11/06/2026

VSL introduce Synchron Solo Violin 1 & Cello (sordino)

First in new line of muted string libraries VSL have just announced the launch of two new string libraries that represent the first two instalments in a new...

11/06/2026

Novation reveal the Launchkey 61 MK4 White

New colour option for 61-key Launchkey MK4 At Superbooth 2025, Novation introduced the Launchkey Mini 37 White and Launchkey 49 White, bringing an additiona...

11/06/2026

Arturia announce the MiniLab 37

Larger, but still compact! Arturia's popular compact MIDI controller keyboard is now available in a, well, slightly less compact version! The new MiniLa...

11/06/2026

Eurosatory 2026: Rohde & Schwarz shapes the new-generation battlefield

Eurosatory 2026: Rohde & Schwarz shapes the new-generation battlefield Rohde & Schwarz unveils next generation SIGINT/EW and CUAS solutions on uncrewed system...

11/06/2026

Rohde & Schwarz unveils NEMACS - Directional, ultra secure connectivity for the future battlefield

Rohde & Schwarz unveils NEMACS - Directional, ultra secure connectivity for the ...

11/06/2026

MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit

MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit Posted by MTI Film on June 10, 2026 LOS ANGELES, CA - June 2026 - MTI FILM, the multiple Emmy Award winning Hollywood post-p...

11/06/2026

Ungrounded LLM Fabricates Every Detail for Nearly 1 in 5 Movie and TV Titles Tested, New Gracenote Report Finds

Study underscores the need for authoritative content intelligence to build trust...

11/06/2026

PTZOptics, LayerJot Partner on AI-Powered PTZ at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Chyron Unveils PAINT 10.4

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Maxon Brings Real-Time Architectural Visualization to AIA26 With New Redshift for Revit and Archicad Integration Beta

Maxon Brings Real-Time Architectural Visualization to AIA26 With New Redshift fo...

11/06/2026

ABC Kid's Caper Crew Shoots Australian Adventure with Blackmagic Design

ABC Kid's Caper Crew Shoots Australian Adventure with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 11, 2026 0 Comments DP Judd Overton and team bring Wes A...

11/06/2026

PTZOptics and LayerJot demo Visual Reasoning at InfoComm...

PTZOptics, and LayerJot today announced live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how prompt-based AI, robotic camera control, and high-performance computing...

11/06/2026

Lightware launches GPIO Button to deliver simplified hard...

Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, announces the release of GPIO-Button-10S, a dedicated control interface enabling straightforward press-to-a...

11/06/2026

NABs LeGeyt Urges Congress to Limit NFL's Antitrust Exemption

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Fubo Inks New Distribution Agreement with NBCUniversal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Kiloview to Showcase Broadcast-Grade AV-over-IP Solutions...

Kiloview, a leading innovator in AV-over-IP video solutions, will return to InfoComm 2026 (Booth# N8327) with broadcast-grade AV-over-IP solutions designed for ...

11/06/2026

Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms

Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms 10 June 2026 From DAU and EULA to COT and QADE, here's a list of game industry terms, industry jargon and their...

11/06/2026

Berklee's Tonya Butler Named Music Business Educator of the Year

Berklee's Tonya Butler Named Music Business Educator of the Year The Music Business Association honored Butler at its annual Bizzy Awards. June 10, 2026 ...

11/06/2026

Ann Mincieli to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commencement

Ann Mincieli to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commencement The five-time Grammy-winning engineer and producer, known for her longstanding...

11/06/2026

Daisy May Cooper rallies the nation ahead of ICC Womens T20 World Cup

Thursday 11 June 2026 Daisy May Cooper rallies the nation ahead of ICC Women's T20 World CupTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy options and...

11/06/2026

Hadewych Minis and Geert van Rampelberg to Star in New Netflix Series Directed by Paula van der Oest

Back to All News Hadewych Minis and Geert van Rampelberg to Star in New Netflix...

11/06/2026

Official Trailer for Anime Adaptation of Thunder 3' Unveiled Ahead of July 9 Premiere

Back to All News Official Trailer for Anime Adaptation of Thunder 3' Unvei...

11/06/2026

RT Radio 1 and Irish Lights mark RT 100 with special broadcasts from Ireland's Lighthouses

Summer solstice shows from C il House and Late Date from 9pm on Saturday 20 Jun...

11/06/2026

Save Big and Play Bigger: GeForce NOW Summer Sale Brings Major Membership Savings

The GeForce NOW summer sale kicked off today with limited-time savings of up to ...

10/06/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Team Whistle's Joe Caporoso on Building World Cup Content Around Fans, Culture, IRL Experiences

DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...

10/06/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager

Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...

10/06/2026

Caretta Research: 2026 World Cup Revenue Growth Due to More Matches; Rights Revenue Up 32%

An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...

10/06/2026

Women Without Boundaries Awards Are Back!

The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...

10/06/2026

On Eve of World Cup Kickoff, FIFA and HBS Offer Deep Dive into IBC Operations, Commentary, and Ref Cam

Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...

10/06/2026

SES Supporting World's Biggest Soccer Tournament Broadcast Distribution Worldwide

SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...

10/06/2026

BirdDog Achieves Full NDI 6.3 Compatibility Across Entire Product Line

NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...

10/06/2026

Emmy Award-Winning Audio Team To Present at SVG Audio Symposium

Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...