The 2022-23 NBA season wound up being quite good for the league’s digital properties. They announced Tuesday that they generated more than 13 billion Instagram video views on @NBA this season, the most of any account on the platform, and 32 billion video views across all NBA and NBA-related social accounts. They also announced more than 1 billion video views on the NBA app, which they relaunched with a new look in September; that number more than tripled last season’s.
Driven by its multi-platform digital strategy, the NBA finished the 2022-23 regular season with record-breaking engagement across the NBA App, NBA League Pass and NBA social media accounts.
THREAD ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/GVv2O3fjK0
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 11, 2023
Here’s more on this from a release:
Driven by its multi-platform digital strategy, the NBA finished the 2022-23 regular season with record-breaking engagement across the NBA App, NBA League Pass and NBA social media accounts. Notably, @NBA on Instagram generated more than 13 billion video views this season, the most of any account on the platform. The league also amassed a record 32 billion video views across all NBA and NBA-related social media accounts, up more than 10% year-over-year, spurred by growth among young and international followers.
…@NBA generated a record 18 billion views across social media platforms this season, the most among all sports leagues. The growth was led by the addition of 14 million new followers, largely from outside the U.S. International followers make up more than 70% of the NBA’s social media following, with 50 percent of the total audience comprised of people age 25 or younger.
…The reimagined NBA App, which launched in September 2022, generated more than one billion video views this season, more than triple last year’s total. The growth was driven by the integration of social media-inspired vertical video content, attracting a younger audience that drove consumption of new series and programming, including “Pass the Rock” – an original series featuring the league’s rising stars – and live streams of Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92 games starring 2023 NBA Draft prospect Victor Wembanyama. The NBA App – a product of NBA Digital, the league’s joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery Sports – is free to download.
It’s interesting to see such a high percentage of international followers for the NBA social accounts. And those young demographics are notable too. That release also notes that the NBA is finding success on YouTube also, becoming the first professional league account to pass 20 million subscribers and 12 billion lifetime video views. So there are certainly some good numbers here for the league across a variety of platforms.
[Top photo of a NBA ball from a December Cleveland Cavaliers-Milwaukee Bucks game, from David Richard/USA Today Sports]
