Recently, The National Basketball Association popularly known as NBA announced their association with FanCode to live stream NBA games in India.
NBA fans who will subscribe to FanCode will have complete access to games throughout the 2019-20 season all the way though the play-offs and the finals.
Medianews4u.com caught up with Rajesh Sethi, MD – NBA India to discuss the association and the way forward.
Read on.
How did the association between NBA and FanCode come about?
The NBA and FanCode predominantly share a common goal of engaging with the fans through innovative content avenues. As the demand for NBA programming and content continues to grow in India, we are committed to providing fans with new and personalized ways to connect with the NBA and our association with FanCode helps fulfil that objective for us.
How many hours of NBA content will the subscribers of FanCode have access to?
Fans will have access to over 20 hours of NBA content on FanCode on a weekly basis through the entire 2019-2020 season.
Is the partnership exclusive or the NBA content will be available on SonyLIV also since Sony Sports is your Broadcast partner?
Sony Pictures Sports Network have played an integral role in promoting the sport and setting up a huge fan following for the league in India through its linear and digital platforms. In fact, SonyLIV was the first ever digital platform to livestream the NBA games. The digital partnership with FanCode is NBA’s first live streaming-only partnership in India, however, it isn’t exclusive as games are available on SonyLIV and NBA’s direct-to-consumer product League Pass. On a linear platform though, fans will continue to have access to NBA content exclusively on Sony Pictures Sports Networks channels.
What are some engagement activities that FanCode has created for the viewers on NBA?
By offering NBA games on FanCode, we will further connect with millions of fans in India who enjoy NBA daily fantasy by offering them features such as fantasy research, game recaps, news, live scores and much more.
Which is your key target audience in India? What are some of the consumption trends that you have mapped?
Our key target audience is the millions of NBA Fantasy users. FanCode, owned by Sporta Technologies which also owns Dream11, the NBA’s official Fantasy Gaming Partner in India, has over 10 million app installs which makes it ideal for us to also reach out to a wider fan base. Games streamed live on the platform will be the same that would be available for fantasy gaming on Dream11 so it all really comes together.
What is the sort of growth that you are looking through this association with FanCode?
As I have mentioned, the main idea is to enhance the experience of the existing fantasy users. Innovation has always been at the core of our propositions and this partnership, paired with our existing broadcast partnership with SONY and our direct to consumer product League Pass, will provide NBA fans even greater opportunities to engage with the brand. The potential of combining linear and digital viewership is tremendous in our country and that’s what we are aiming for.
