How Audience Insights Drive NBA Media Decision-Making
How do “actionable insights” translate into concrete actions when it comes to media deals, partnerships, and brand growth in major sports leagues? In this clip from an opening Keynote Fireside Chat with me at Streaming Media Connect 2026, NBA VP, Global Media Insights Michelle Auguste explains how audience insights have informed the NBA’s new 11-year media deal as well as the league’s impending Euro League international expansion recently announced by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Showing How the NBA Is Bucking TV Viewership Trends
I asked Michelle for some specific examples of “actionable insights” that had actually translated into actions taken by the NBA to pivot to new strategies, new partnerships, or new markets.
Her response went straight to “the most important one”: “our new media deal, which started this year, and will be in place for the next 11 years," she said. "We use audience insights as an integral source of data to showcase the strength of NBA's brand on both scale and how it engages with our fan base, and to show how it incrementally brings value to our partners. We're showing that by saying overall TV viewership levels are currently declining, but the NBA is actually bucking those trends. We're actually increasing, and we're a growth property in a declining environment." Audience insights, she explains, enables the league "to showcase the scale of how many people come to us on a nightly basis, how diverse that audience is, and how we're the youngest and most diverse US competitive sports league out there."
Launching a European League
Looking beyond media rights, she continues, "We've also used audience insights to identify the new partners or that white space" where "expansion opportunities" abound. "I think a perfect example is that, a couple of weeks ago, Adam Silver announced that we're starting a new league in Europe. And I think there are a couple of audience insights that came together to help us come up with this decision. Number one, our international presence is at an all-time high. We have 125 players from 43 different countries. This is the most international the league has ever been in its history. Number two, we see our viewership increasing in Europe.
Auguste points to specific markets that are doing especially well "like France and Serbia" (thanks in large measure to the global popularity of French superstar Victor Wembanyama and three-time MVP and Serbian native Nikola Jokic). "We tend to do a lot of global games where we actually bring the product to Europe to bring it closer to the fans. When we did it with France two years ago, that was the most viewed regular-season NBA game ever. We did it in Germany this year where we actually brought the Orlando Magic. You had Franz Wagner there, and it was the most viewed game in Germany ever. So we're seeing that there's growth opportunities and that we're on an upward trend in Europe."
Because of these metrics, she says, "We felt like there's a need, there's a demand for our product, and there's a white space. Why not actually bring the product directly to our fans and start a league there?"
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