An opinion piece by Dave Dembowski, chief revenue officer at media advertising and data solutions firm Operaive.
Streaming’s opportunity to turn over the NBA’s drop in local viewership
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The NBA is a huge, successful organization with record-breaking viewership this year. National games had the highest opening night viewership in 15 years. But the good news isn’t being felt by everyone. Local mid-season games saw a 9% decrease in viewership. Specific teams that had underwhelming records did see bigger losses in viewership as their season wore on, compared to some gains for hot teams and popular teams with big stars.
But the issue isn’t the NBA. There’s a current crisis of how to transition long tail games from linear to streaming. A lot of people stopped watching because they left linear TV altogether. Reportedly, as many as 2.7 million pay TV subscribers left between September and March.
Linear’s loss could be streaming’s gain, but only if streamers find a way to attract loyal viewers. Today, that isn’t clear-cut. Viewers have a lot of options to wade through, from regional sports networks (RSNs) coming online to direct FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) options from franchises and access through apps like FanDuel. Teams and media networks need to find their footing fast and grab fans as they make the transition.
Determining the best way to attract paying subscribers and determining the right advertising strategy means the difference between a profitable new venture and an expensive risk. One promising approach is “linear streaming”, which keeps many of the premium and direct elements of linear advertising sales but amplifies it with dynamic ad delivery, targeting, and other digital capabilities that streaming unlocks.
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By GlobalDataLinear streaming rewrites the rules of monetization
Linear streaming provides several benefits to media companies and teams. It combines the predictability of traditional TV with the digital benefits of interactivity, flexibility, and data-rich targeting. Media companies and franchises can still leverage up-front sales to guarantee revenue, but then deliver campaigns using digital technology to optimize campaigns and move spend across channels to reach audiences.
Linear streaming gives advertisers a reason to pay premium prices for the best inventory, but also gives them more agility to make changes in real time – for example, targeting campaigns to specific moments in a game. Consider a brand that sponsors a star player stipulating in their advertising contract that they want to target placements around major moments. With linear streaming, they can lock in this kind of deal and still have the flexibility to deliver their campaign where it makes the biggest impact.
Media companies need technology and processes to capture this new opportunity. Legacy linear technology and approaches to ad delivery are too rigid to accommodate the real-time nature of dynamic ad delivery. For that, media companies need to embrace digital elements on the backend that can target and optimize.
The new era of NBA growth
Monetization is not just about giving advertisers what they want. Teams and media companies also need to deliver an experience that attracts and retains fans. Some markets are very healthy, with beloved stars and national audiences, while smaller franchises are struggling to keep fan attention. The shaky agreements with RSNs are hurting viewership. Even in big markets, there has been trouble. Chicago didn’t have coverage on Comcast this past season, and others are still in negotiations. Hoping that RSNs will successfully deliver streaming coverage simply doesn’t cut it for either large or small markets.
Teams are embracing alternatives like Victory+, which is a FAST app that gives teams direct connection to fans. With new trends like behind-the-scenes content, social media content between games, and star-specific fan bases growing by the day, teams are starting to be more creative with how they engage fans and what it means to draw a loyal audience beyond the game schedule.
With Victory+ and other contracts – including FanDuel, which is available through Amazon Prime Video – franchises have new distribution options to help drive viewership. These new partners are also more agile with digital advertising and more flexible about delivering new forms of content, all great opportunities to connect with fans in new ways as audiences start to embrace streaming themselves.
Creating close relationships with fans and brands
In 2026, every team is going to be testing different opportunities against each other, including subscription models vs. advertising models, FAST partnerships vs. large linear/streaming hybrid deals, and more. This is an era of major change. Linear is losing viewership, while streaming is gaining – but it’s not a one-for-one trade.
Franchises and media companies have no guarantee that they can attract the same audiences that linear enjoyed for decades. People have more choice than ever before, and will need to see the value in the content and viewer experience to make the move to a specific FAST app or invest in a season pass. Where audiences go, brands follow. The places that attract the most engaged, loyal viewers will have the best chance of capturing advertising spend.
