A strong online presence is key to boosting growth for sports rights holders.
With viewership for sports competitions plateauing and early signs sports rights have hit a ceiling, rights holders are investing in their online content to provide additional forms of revenue and ensure TV audiences remain high. A strong online presence cannot be under estimated, it's been proven to penetrate new markets, generate revenue from digital advertising and acts a key marketing tool - driving fans towards the linear coverage and attending live events. Social media metrics and website traffic are vital to the long-term success of every sports organization. As always content is king, but how the content is accessed, published and enhanced with graphics, will determine the success of the online platforms.
Whilst many sports organizations slowly come to terms with changing consumer habits, the NBA has grown exponentially over the past five years and trails only soccer in terms of international popularity. For the 2016-17 season the NBA hit $7.3 billion in revenue, up 21% from $5.8 billion in the 2015-16 season. At the heart of their expansion is a shrewd social media strategy. During the season they publish 15 plus clips per day across all platforms, including: match highlights, exclusive behind the scenes footage', archive and analysis clips with graphics. Undoubtedly the NBA has been the most progressive federation for access to players, but it's the analysis clips (see picture), using Vizrt's image-based software - Viz Libero - that drives fan engagement. Steve Hellmuth, EVP Operations & Technology at the NBA and integral to their social media strategy said: We already do business with Vizrt, we use Viz Libero to provide a layer of graphics, any time people see a video that includes graphics, analytics that's what attracts them. That's what takes it from 200,000 view to 2 million. 3D graphics are used to highlight key moments, deconstruct facets of play or provide a better understanding of a team's strategy. Player and team statistics are inserted into dynamically moving graphics, substantiating and enriching the analysis clips. Furthermore, the 3D flights between broadcast cameras provide an unparalleled wow affect'. Hellmuth continued: We're in the business of compressing information using a lot of tools, so that people can get more in less time - which is really what it's all about. You don't just want to look at a naked video clip; you want some graphics and analysis.
The results are staggering, they have over 1.4 billion likes and followers on social media, an additional 172 million fans within the last year and the social media views during the 2017 NBA finals were up by 44%. Most of their social media followers are male and aged between 15-25, a key demographic for any sponsor (think digital advertising) and most importantly, NBA Pass (OTT platform) or ESPN subscribers of tomorrow.
Many sports organizations are now adopting the same approach and investing heavily in digital content teams. But they are discovering conventional broadcast tools such as a linear editing software are not designed for high volume, short-form, on the go' content that social media demands. Viz Story, the easy to use web interface can create compelling video stories with full real-time, state-of-the-art 3D graphics. It strips away the complexity of linear editing and allows the user to publish directly to various social media platforms. It's designed to be operated by a journalist or social media producer, without any compromise to high-end broadcast quality' graphics, key for sports properties, who spend millions on their branding.
Related articles
Vizrt brings immersive football analysis to the studio with the new Viz Libero AR
Visualising the globe
NBC Sports Group partners with Vizrt for 3D sports analysis
Related articles
Vizrt brings immersive football analysis to the studio with the new Viz Libero AR
Visualising the globe
NBC Sports Group partners with Vizrt for 3D sports analysis
Most recent headlines
25/12/2025
Holiday lights are twinkling, hot cocoa's on the stove and gamers are settling in for a well-earned break.
Whether staying in or heading on a winter getawa...
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
The Boyfriend' Season 2 Unveils Heartwarming Trailer, Key...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
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 ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
A strong online presence is key to boosting growth for sports rights holders.
