NBA announces revamped creator program

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NEW YORK — The NBA today unveiled its most expansive creator initiative ever for the 2024-25 season, featuring an expanded NBA Creator Cup Series and a new content-sharing network in partnership with WSC Sports.  Throughout the season, creators from diverse fields – basketball, fashion, food and more – will deliver unique behind-the-scenes content at marquee NBA events.
“Creators are a key part of the NBA’s content ecosystem, helping us connect with new audiences in innovative ways,” said Bob Carney, NBA Senior Vice President of Social and Digital Content.  “We have experienced remarkable growth with our creator program since it launched in 2016, and we can’t wait to see what this season brings.”
This season’s program will launch with popular streamer Kai Cenat and multi-hyphenate creator Drew Afualo, both featured in “The Tip-Off,” the league’s start-of-season brand campaign.  On opening night (Tuesday, Oct. 22), Cenat will collaborate with @NBA, taking fans behind the scenes of his experience attending the New York Knicks vs. Boston Celtics game (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT).   Afualo will be featured across NBA social channels as she attends the Phoenix Suns vs. LA Clippers game on Wednesday, Oct. 23, airing at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.
“As a lifelong fan of this league, it’s a dream come true to work with the NBA and other creators to bring more content to my supporters this season than ever before,” said Kai Cenat.
Building on last season’s success – which featured influencers Jenna Bandy, Jesser, Kris London, Lethal Shooter and Tristan Jass – the NBA Creator Cup Series returns with three exciting games at marquee NBA events:  the Emirates NBA Cup in Las Vegas, NBA All-Star in the San Francisco Bay Area and NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.  These games will showcase skilled basketball creators, with rosters to be announced at a later date.
As part of its broader creator strategy, the NBA is expanding its partnership with WSC Sports to evolve the NBA Playmakers creator network.  The league will directly provide select influencers unprecedented access to more than 25,000 hours of NBA game footage and AI-driven editing tools.  Popular creators, including Thinking Basketball, Swish Cultures, By Any Means Basketball, CoshReport, MaxaMillion711 and Golden Hoops, will leverage this footage for engaging reaction posts and videos across their social media channels, enhancing storytelling and fan engagement opportunities.
At the start of the regular season, the NBA will work with more than 100 creators to drive voter participation.  As part of the campaign, creators will share educational resources about the importance of voting with their audience in collaboration with the NBA and its civic engagement partners.
As part of their partnership, the NBA and Meta will collaborate to bring creators on-site to meet and greet fans and provide hands-on demos of the Quest courtside experience.  Meta Quest, the official MR headset of the NBA, is partnering with select creators during the 2024-25 season to enhance the fan experience.  Additionally, the league is partnering with Snapchat on the Snap Creator Program, bringing top creators to NBA events to create content for their accounts and the NBA Snap account.
The NBA Creator Correspondent Program, which features creators providing real-time courtside coverage at the league’s biggest events, returns for its second year.  Creators will provide fans with exclusive courtside coverage at major events.   Last season, more than 100 creators – including food reviewer Keith Lee, comedian Funny Marco and Air Corgi – generated more than 650 million video views across NBA social and digital channels.