The NBA G League is returning to Twitch this season with games set to air every Friday and Saturday from Feb. 8 through Mar. 23.
To complement the Twitch stream of the NBA’s minor league, the platform will offer the option to co-stream on every game. Co-streaming is a unique feature on the social broadcast platform that lets users share another channel’s video feed while adding custom play-by-play commentary. Twitch will allow anyone to co-stream, rather than just a select group of influencers.
Twitch is also upgrading its official G League Extension this season, which lets users view stats during live games, and earn points for tuning in and interacting with stat sheets and leaderboards. Now, users will also be able to vote on the Twitch MVP of each match, who will be interviewed on the court after the game.
The gamified features on Twitch, including those being implemented for the G League, come as Amazon, via Twitch, is working to add interactivity to its traditional sports coverage. Amazon Prime integrated a number of interactive features to its Thursday Night Football streams this past season.
However, Amazon and Twitch are starting to face competition from new services. Sportscastr allows streamers to similarly add color commentary and has deployed influencers via partnerships with the WNBPA and NFLPA. Caffeine recently teamed up with ESPN for social broadcasting rights at the X Games and is expected to get social broadcast rights to the World Series and other MLB broadcasts via a partnership with 21st Century Fox.