By the middle of last season, 29 of 30 NBA franchises offered a direct-to-consumer subscription for fans to purchase live local broadcasts without needing any sort of pay TV bundle. The Houston Rockets are the only holdout. And as the league begins another season in which the vast majority of fans can access games via a direct-to-consumer service, growth in that area is to be expected.
Based on data compiled from last season, some suggest that growth can be significant.
According to a report by Tom Friend in Sports Business Journal, citing data from Playfly Insights, roughly 15% of the NBA’s total local broadcast audience last season watched via a direct-to-consumer service, up from “single digits” in the years prior. Playfly Sports CEO Craig Sloan predicts that the 15% figure could double at some point down the line to 30% or more.
“We’re expecting direct-to-consumer to see more explosive growth during this season,” Sloan told SBJ. “…I think people were finally fed up with lacking access to the teams through traditional MVPD or getting pushed to pay $20 extra for a sports tier. They might as well just have a direct relationship with the team or the media rights holder.”
In addition to the NBA seeing a meaningful rise in direct-to-consumer viewership, streaming in general has seen a sizeable uptick. Per Friend, roughly 30% of local NBA broadcasts are now consumed through streaming, which includes virtual MVPDs and digital-first platforms in addition to direct-to-consumer apps. That figure “will likely rise soon to 50%,” Friend reports, citing sources familiar with the league’s metrics.
This data comes at an important time for the NBA as commissioner Adam Silver looks to sell a nationalized streaming package to an established platform like Amazon, YouTube, Apple, ESPN, or Peacock, likely for the 2027-28 season. The proposed platform would consolidate existing direct-to-consumer services into one place, with fans able to “get any game at any time, regardless of the geography,” Silver suggests.
Any preliminary returns that show a positive trajectory should be encouraging for the NBA as it moves toward a more streaming-focused distribution system for local broadcasts. However, whether the growth of streaming can replicate the revenue once generated from the cable bundle remains to be seen.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.