The vast majority of NBA fans across the globe will never attend an actual game, but perhaps the next best thing is watching the game live in virtual reality.
For the 2016-17 season, where NBA Digital and its partner NextVR aired one weekly regular season NBA LEAGUE PASS game in virtual reality, the VR audiences “continued to surge,” according to NextVR Vice President of Content Danny Keens.
“The incredible thing about watching sports in VR is fans are stepping into the TV to watch the content, removing the fourth wall as it were and unlocking the screen,” Keens told NBC Sports. “It’s a transformational change in how people can watch the game.
“We saw our audiences continued to surge as we went throughout the year, but it’s also that the broadcasts got better as the year went on. We learned a lot in our first year.”
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NextVR and the NBA declined to share any specifics on viewership across the 25 games, which included all 30 league teams shown at least once.
Jeff Marsilio, NBA Vice President of Global Media, similarly told AListDaily that while the virtual reality viewership is currently “modest” compared to traditional content, “it’s always improving.”
“We follow the fan reaction directly on social media, and the response has been terrific,” he added. “People are really excited about it, and happy with the direction the product is going. What we’re most focused on is how long users are engaging with the content, and how much they’re enjoying it. We use every game as an opportunity to improve the broadcast, but we’re also looking forward to the offseason where we can make more step-changes, more significant changes.”
Throughout the season, the two parties broadened their partnership to reach a wider audience as they offered the final eight weekly games a la carte for $6.99 a contest in addition to being available internationally (minus China) during the final two months of the regular season. Fans who want to experience the NBA Finals in virtual reality will be able to do so as well, with highlights packages from the games being accessible after each game.
In November, Marsilio told SportTechie that he could envision a future of live virtual reality broadcasts where eventually each NBA game is available in some way using VR. He echoed those sentiments when talking with AListDaily but did say that he doesn’t think virtual reality is “replacing TV or mobile any time soon.”
“Eventually I have every reason to believe that every game will be produced in VR,” he said.
“It will be additives — in the near term anyways. And it’ll just be another way people can experience the game. It’ll be the most immersive way. VR will become a third option. But I do think that future is coming — and it’ll be coming pretty soon.”