Show Notes
Could NBL27 be the season Australian basketball gets significantly bigger?
With the new NBL season tipping off on September 19, Saturday night basketball is coming live and free to Nine and 9Now — giving the league a major opportunity to reach new and casual fans.
Geoff Dyer, Director of Programming for 9Network & 9Now, joins Scott Keenan on Moneyball – The Business of Sport to explain why Nine invested in the NBL, why it chose a Saturday night doubleheader and where basketball fits into Nine’s wider sports broadcasting strategy.
Geoff says Nine could already feel momentum building around the NBL through television ratings, mainstream media coverage and social media. Now the broadcaster wants to use the wider Nine business to help take Australian basketball to an even bigger audience.
Scott and Geoff discuss why basketball works so well on television, Nine’s ambition to offer live sport 365 days a year, the audiences and advertisers the NBL can attract, and why the battle for attention is now much bigger than the traditional Nine-versus-Seven television rivalry.
They also get into what the NBL broadcast on Nine will actually look like, potential Nine talent in the coverage, NBL Overtime, Wide World of Sports and the importance of short-form and social content in bringing casual fans into basketball.
Geoff also explains Nine’s strategy for Super Netball, reveals that every Super Netball game will be available free on 9Now, discusses why Premier League football has moved behind the Stan Sport paywall, and talks about the opportunity for younger voices and content creators in sports broadcasting.
Finally, Geoff explains why success for Nine’s NBL partnership isn’t simply about television ratings. Nine wants to see the game grow through bigger audiences, attendances, club memberships and social engagement.
In Geoff’s words: “Everything is a partnership.”
Moneyball – The Business of Sport goes behind the deals, decisions and dynamics shaping sport.
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