In a press conference yesterday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was asked about the rising cost to watch a season of NBA games given that all games will be on either cable or streaming services.
He conceded that streaming prices are too high for fans and controversially suggested that free highlights on social platforms will meet most fans' needs: "There's a huge amount of our content that people can consume for free... this is very much a highlights-based sport. So, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, you name it... there's an enormous amount of content out there."
Silver's admission validates the argument I have made over the last two weeks: ESPN's expensive bet on passive viewing misses how fandom actually works in the digital era of direct-to-consumer (DTC) and AI platforms. Participation is a two-way street: Fans find NBA highlights and NBA highlights find fans. Highlights in social media offer a user experience better than $30/month live streams, but that does not rule out additional DTC businesses or better user experiences.
ESPN ($2.6 billion per year), NBCUniversal ($2.5 billion) and Amazon ($1.8 billion) are spending $7 billion annually on NBA rights for the next 11 years, betting that subscription streaming apps will capture cord-cutting and cord-never fans at scale. But Silver is essentially saying their premise is wrong—most fans need a solution that meets their participation needs, first, and their viewing needs, second.
