- Snapchat said its NBA content is up 25% as the league prepares for its 2021 All-Star Game in Atlanta.
- The parties renewed their revenue-share agreement last June, and it allows the mobile platform to further leverage an NBA highlights show.
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The Snapchat application on a smartphone arranged in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 29, 2021.Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
It's labeled the perfect 360 relationship, and Snap plays a considerable part in helping the National Basketball Association entertain its young audience.
This weekend, the NBA is tamping down its annual All-Star Game in Atlanta due to Covid-19. Fan attendance will be restricted. Players are only partially enthusiastic, and things are far from ordinary for the usual celebrity-heavy event. But the NBA will be one of the first major sports leagues back to playing an All-Star event, nearly one year after it was the first to suspend its season due to the pandemic.
For this different All-Star Game, the NBA is relying on Snapchat to engage its Generation Z users it wants to keep interested in the sport.
"It's one of our most unique relationships in the sense that the NBA can touch every corner of our platform," Anmol Malhotra, head of sports partnerships at Snapchat, told CNBC. "They do a good job with that 360 focus and can amplify casual fans, hardcore and non-sports fans' experience around their league."
"Innovative," said NBA executive Sam Farber when describing the partnership. "And another [word] might be 'comprehensive.' We use every feature and tool that Snap has available. We view our partnership with them as a true 360 partnership."
Snapchat partners with the NBA with Snapchat-NBA augmented reality features.Source: Snapchat
How this partnership works
The NBA's deal with Snapchat is in its seventh year, having been renewed last June. It's a revenue-share model where Snapchat shares ad revenue around NBA videos with the league. Snapchat says revenue from its six-second video ads has more than doubled year over year but didn't disclose financials.
The NBA is also a marketer and pays Snap to advertise on Snapchat. The league uses Snapchat Discover channels to boost content and drive linear tune-in for its media partners Disney-owned ESPN and AT&T-owned Turner Sports. And the league leans heavily into Snap's augmented reality features to promote its content.
