
NBA Expands Creator Program; Partners with WSC Sports to Feed Content Archive and Editing Tools to Select Creators Streamer Kai Cenat to Collaborate with @NBA for Opening Night Knicks-Celtics Game on TNT By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Monday, October 21, 2024 - 12:01 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
In advance of the start of the NBA season which tips Tuesday the league announced its largest initiative yet in its effort to engage directly with digital and social content creators. Most notably, the league will use WSC Sports, the popular AI-based video platform, to establish a new content-sharing network to directly provide select influencers access to more than 25,000 hours of NBA game footage and AI-driven editing tools.
Creators are a key part of the NBA's content ecosystem, helping us connect with new audiences in innovative ways, Bob Carney, NBA Senior Vice President of Social and Digital Content said in an official announcement from the league. We have experienced remarkable growth with our creator program since it launched in 2016, and we can't wait to see what this season brings.
Social creators like Thinking Basketball, Swish Cultures, By Any Means Basketball, CoshReport, MaxaMillion711, and Golden Hoops, will have the ability to use footage from the NBA Playmakers content-sharing network to produce their own reaction posts and storytelling opportunities.
For Opening Night on Tuesday, the NBA is partnering with the popular streamer Kai Cenat and creator Drew Afualo to collaborate on the NBA's various social media handles during the New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics game, which airs on TNT (7:30 p.m. ET). Afualo will also be back on Wednesday as she will be featured across NBA social channels as she attends the Phoenix Suns vs. LA Clippers game on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) the first NBA contest at the new Intuit Dome.
Also coming this season is the return of the NBA Creator Cup Series. Last season, influencers such as Jenna Bandy, Jesser, Kris London, Lethal Shooter, and Tristan Jass competing in games at NBA tentpole events like the Emirates NBA Cup, All-Star, and Summer League. Rosters for those events to named at a later date.
Building on last season's success - which featured influencers Jenna Bandy, Jesser, Kris London, Lethal Shooter and Tristan Jass - the NBA Creator Cup Series returns with three exciting games at marquee NBA events: the Emirates NBA Cup in Las Vegas, NBA All-Star in the San Francisco Bay Area and NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. These games will showcase skilled basketball creators, with rosters to be announced at a later date.
There will be more on-site activations with creators, as well. The NBA shared that, as part of their partnership with Meta, the duo will collaborate to bring creators on-site to meet and greet fans and provide hands-on demos of the Quest courtside experience. Additionally, the league is partnering with Snapchat on the Snap Creator Program, bringing top creators to NBA events to create content for their accounts and the NBA Snap account.
The NBA Creator Correspondent Program, which features creators providing real-time courtside coverage at the league's biggest events, returns for its second year. Creators, including Joy DeAngela, Rachel DeMita, and YPK Raye will provide fans with exclusive courtside coverage at major events. Last season, more than 100 creators - including food reviewer Keith Lee, comedian Funny Marco, and Air Corgi - generated more than 650 million video views across NBA social and digital channels.
The NBA is also planning to work with more than 100 creators of a voter participation campaign in the coming weeks leading up to Election Day.
More from Sports Video Group
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
18/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Kurt Sutton, Director of Broadcast Operations, Clemson ...
18/12/2025
Follow the Money Episode 2: Inside the Sports Media Biz with Sam McCleery and St...
18/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Google Cloud's Anshul Kapoor on the Future of Generative Prod...
18/12/2025
The 2025 SVG Summit Draws Record Crowd for 20th-Annual Sports-Production Industr...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
15/12/2025
Harlem Globetrotters Celebrate 100th Anniversary With New Brand Campaign From Th...
12/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Everything You Need to Know for Next Week's Big Sho...
11/12/2025
ESPN's Aims for Spectacular With Heisman Trophy ShowEvent firsts include 1080p HDR production airing on both national broadcast and cableBy Dan Daley, Audio...
11/12/2025
SVG Students To Watch: Frankie Patton, University of ColoradoThe 2025 grad is hitting the ground running as a PA on national broadcastsBy Brandon Costa, Directo...
11/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 3By SVG Staff
Thursday, December 11, 2025 - 7:24 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2...
11/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: What Makes Gen Z, X, and Y Fans Tick? Dave Gavant of WSC Sports Go...
11/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: 5G, MXL, Spectrum Loss, and Outerspace on Tap for Tues...
11/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: David Levy, Turner Titan and Master of Al...
11/12/2025
SVG Launches Follow the Money' Podcast: Go Inside the Sports Media Biz with...
11/12/2025
A Deep Dive Inside Game Creek Video's Bird and Magic Mobile Units, Home to A...
11/12/2025
How Sound Effects for Monsters Funday Football' Emulated the Sonic Soul of ...
11/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: CSP Mobile Productions' Len Chase on Upgrading Tr...
10/12/2025
Sound-Alike Commercials Are Part of Sports' Soundtrack Johnny Cash for Coca-Cola is the latest in a long litany of sonic approximationsBy Dan Daley, Audio ...
10/12/2025
Immersive Sound Is Logical Next Step for Sports VenuesSound-systems suppliers are sanguine, but the market has its challengesBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednes...
10/12/2025
The Romans Built Arenas for Immersive Sound 2,000 Years AgoThe historic Arena of Nimes in France is still in use todayBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, De...
10/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Audio Workshop Hits on Immersive, Virtualized, and Next...
10/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview: Audio SpotlightBy SVG Staff
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 - 8:21 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlig...
10/12/2025
SVG Europe Audio: Listening to the sounds of powder and ice at Milano Cortina wi...
10/12/2025
Advancements in audio technology: Capturing the atmosphere of live sports By David Davies
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - 09:27
Print This Story
Although wor...
10/12/2025
Everything smelled of popcorn: The art of bringing the complex sound of esports ...
09/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Pam Oliver, Sideline Icon Who Redefined t...
09/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 2By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 - 7:17 am
Print This Story | Subscr...
09/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Cloud Production Workshop Spotlights Live and Non-Live ...
09/12/2025
Next-generation content protection: Multi-technology security is integral to com...
09/12/2025
CBS Sports Provides One-of-a-Kind Production' for UEFA Champions League Cro...
09/12/2025
Spanish Professional Basketball League Relies on NETGEAR AV, MAM Tech for Seamle...
09/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: St. Thomas's Mike Gallagher and Casey Eakins on the Tommies...