NBA Expands Content Creator Relationships; X, TikTok Offer Dedicated NBA Experience for New Season

The NBA 2026/2027 is about to tip off and with it the NBA is enhancing its digital offerings in a number of ways, most notably beginning with leaning more heavily into the social creator community, expanding the presence of its tap to watch button to a global scale, providing fans around the globe a wealth of ways to stay connected with the NBA and also tune into the games they most want to see.

The breadth of our digital ecosystem allows us to connect with NBA fans in more ways than ever before, says NBA Head of Direct-to-Consumer Products, Technology & Operations Chris Benyarko. This season, we're bringing together new experiences, deeper basketball insights and fresh perspectives from creators, while making it easier for fans to discover, follow and watch live games across the platforms they use every day. Together, these enhancements are designed to bring fans closer to the game and create a richer, more engaging experience throughout the season.

Most notable in terms of social media strategies is a more formalized relationship with 500 content creators, a reflection of changing times where the goal is not to just build a social presence directly with fans but also indirectly.

Tap-to-Watch Local ensures that fans in the local markets are directed to the correct local rights holder, making it much easier to tune in to the game. We used to be on social and build this massive following, and it felt like we had a one-to-one relationship with the fan, says NBA Senior Vice President, Social and Digital Content Bob Carney. But as the social platforms and the algorithms evolved, it became a spaghetti factory, where it's very hard to get to the fan. The only way to expand our reach is to work with everybody in the ecosystem. Carney says the new program launched with TikTok will give those 500 creators storylines and highlight content, and there will also be an incentive program, rewarding them with prizes and access to NBA events which, he adds, is what they really want as a creator.

They want to be behind the velvet rope and every time one of those 500 creators' posts about the NBA, the Tap to Watch link will also appear there, he says of a feature that gives NBA fans one-tap access to finding out how to watch the game related to the social content.

NBA Partner Management Lead, New Media Maggie O'Rourke says choosing the 500 influencers was a deep collaboration with TikTok.

We trusted their ecosystem better than anyone else, says O'Rourke. We're looking for people who are telling really unique stories in their own voice, who may not be getting the lift that traditional media does. There were rounds of back and forth to make sure the stories they were going to tell were additive and complementary to what we had already planned.

The move is all part of expanding the NBA Digital ecosystem, says Carney.

When we talk about the ecosystem, he explains, it's our way of saying everyone that is publishing NBA-related content on all these platforms: the league accounts, the team accounts, player accounts, media accounts, our national media partner accounts, influencers, creators. That entire ecosystem last season drove almost a half a trillion views.

And the goal, ultimately, is to drive game consumption, not social likes and shares.

We are singularly focused on driving live viewership, he says. With our shift last year to our new 11-year media deal and the shift to streaming, this entire ecosystem is one click away from watching a live game. That's the holy grail for us.

The key in being a successful creator partner is not gimmicks or trick shots but rather great storytelling.

These are people delivering a key message, a key point, a key storyline, adds Carney. Just like we've built out our creator network over the last decade, we're building out this storytelling network, because so many people are building big followings by taking fans deeper into the stories of our players, our teams, and our league. And the way the algorithms work now, the longer somebody watches, if they watch it over and over again, if they share it with a friend, those are the signals that determine whether that content is delivered to more people.

As for the platforms themselves, look for both X and TikTok to have new dedicated NBA experiences within their apps: GameTime on X and GamePlan on TikTok.

Explains Carney: There's a brand-new experience launching at the start of the season called GameTime, where this doesn't look like X. If you follow the NBA, you follow our teams, you follow our players, you show interest in the NBA, there will be a permanent placement for this NBA experience on the home screen. It'll be baked into the X experience, and you'll not only have a deeper level of engagement at your fingertips, but you'll be also one click away from watching the live game. TikTok will also have a hub landing page experience where you'll be able to get the scores and all the key information. That one click is via Tap to Watch which this year will also be available for fans internationally. One of the interesting addition this year is that any of the tens of millions of NBA fans who have the NBA hashtag will have the Tap to Watch link appear on their post. The goal of Tap to Watch is simple: make it as easy as possible for fans to access and discover the live game anywhere they are online.

NBA Head of Business Initiatives and Operations Dayna Blechman, says Tap to Watch uses geo-location to let the person who taps on it know where they can watch a given game.

It knows the fan's location and takes the guesswork out of sending them to a broadcast destination, says Blechman. In game, social platforms drive a tremendous amount of engagement, especially during viral moments: someone big on courtside row, the fourt

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