NBA Globalization
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/London_NBA_2008.jpg/220px-London_NBA_2008.jpg)
National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the rapidly growing sports league in the United States.[1] In 2017, the NBA TV ratings has grown by 32%,[1] the championship series had 20.4 million total viewers with an additional 434,000 digital streaming viewers in 215 countries and territories in 49 languages.[2] The growth of NBA viewership is related to their path to globalization and their digital marketing campaigns, which has allowed NBA to expand their brand awareness and sponsorship deals.[3] The NBA started their globalization strategy by holding international exhibition games between NBA teams and international teams in different countries, also inviting over 110 international players to join this sport league.[4]
NBA Digital Marketing
NBA social media
Online Social Networks (OSNs) which provide high quality information can offer users a better understanding of the brand, and feel support from other users.[5] NBA is powerful in digital presence, with a huge number of followers among different social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Reddit, etc.[6] The contents on these Online Social Networks (OSNs) are all-round; Facebook users are able to ask NBA players questions through the Live Video platform, Twitter offered in game video highlights when users click the hashtag #NBARapidReplay,[7] and the number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers of the NBA is still growing.[8] With high-quality information, the audience can receive and retain updates on every basketball game, enticing consumers to keep a watchful eye on future matches.[9] Also, high information quality benefits users who wish to obtain information related to a service or product.[10] As a result, users are persuaded to buy a league pass to watch every NBA game or visit an NBA store to buy NBA clothing.[9]
Social Media Platform | Followers/Likes |
---|---|
35 million | |
27.1 million | |
27.5 million |
Corporate sponsors and partners
The motivations and objectives of corporate sponsors and partners include using sport leagues as a versatile medium to reach a wide range of public as well as achieving several business objectives, including enhance awareness, promote sales, build relationship, community relations and support and personal interest.[11] Moreover, some corporations utilizing corporate sponsors and partners as a marketing tool to explore B2B market.[12]
In 2013, NBA started their high-profile marketing campaigns with different corporate sponsors and partners, NBA signed with four big movie studios - Warner Bros., Universal, Sony and Disney to produce co-promotional spots advertising, and the NBA's audience is matched with these studios’ target audience.[13] Also, with the strong social media presence, NBA's partner like Sprint and Taco Bell, their brands have appeared in different NBA online video content,[13] it functions as a reminder to recall the brand name from viewers.
Besides, a variety of advertainments are printed on the NBA court or ads board. For example, PepsiCo or Harbin Brewery (simplified Chinese: 哈尔滨啤酒集团; traditional Chinese: 哈爾濱啤酒集團) put their brand name or slogan on the court, which draws the attention from audience through TV, online streaming or social media photo.[14] Another league's sponsors like KIA can also build a relationship with NBA or customers as these partners can emphasise that they are the official partner of NBA and become a selling point.[15]
Celebrities
Celebrities enjoy public recognition and often are perceived to possess some expertise.[16] Celebrities actively participate in NBA games, especially when it comes to all-star weekend. NBA invite celebrities from various industries like Justin Bieber (singer), Jerry Ferrara (actor), Brandon Armstrong (social media star) to join the celebrity game.[17] With their popularity and charisma, NBA can earn money through TV contracts, licensed products, and ticket sales.
Apart from this, celebrities are always in attendance to watch NBA games, these opinion leaders cause huge influence on other's decision making,[18] their fans may pay attention to NBA because of celebrities. Sometimes, news from NBA can dominate the headlines, for example, David Beckham attended Kobe Bryant's last game before retirement caused great concern.[19]
External links
References
- ^ a b Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem (12 Dec 2017). "The NBA, and not the NFL, is the league of America's future". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Wang, Kevin (16 June 2017). "The 2017 Finals showcased the NBA's international reach". ESPN. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Hobbs, Thomas. "How the NBA is using digital and celebrity fans to increase its brand appeal in the UK". Marketing Week. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Hitchcock, Andrew. "The Globalization of the NBA". United Language Group. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Watts, S A.; Zhang, W. (2008). "Capitalizing on content: Information adoption in two online communities". Journal of the Association for Information Systems. 9 (2): 73-94. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Peebles, Maurice. "It's Good! How the NBA Is Winning at Social Media". Complex. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Leung, Stuart. "How the NBA Excelled at Digital Marketing During the NBA Finals". Salesforce. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Statista. "Number of Facebook fans/twitter followers of the NBA from 2012 to 2017 (in millions)". Statista. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ a b Awoniyi, Bola. "How digital has transformed the NBA". Econsultancy. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Stylianou, A.; Zhao, K.; Zheng, Y. (2012). "The impacts of information quality and system quality on users' continuance intention in information-exchange virtual communities: An empirical investigation". Decision Support Systems. 56: 513-524.
- ^ Meenaghan, T. (2005). "Evaluating sponsorship effects". In Amis, John; Cornwell, Bettina T. (eds.). Global sport sponsorship. Oxford: Berg. pp. 243–264. ISBN 9781845200817.
- ^ Crowley, Martin G. (November 1991). "Prioritising the Sponsorship Audience". European Journal of Marketing. 25 (11): 11–21. doi:10.1108/EUM0000000000628.
- ^ a b Jessop, Alicia. "The NBA's Extensive Digital Following Creates Unique Marketing Opportunities For The Finals". Forbes. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ "从世界杯到NBA,哈尔滨啤酒要打造自己的体育营销生态". 禹唐体育. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ Nantais, Drew. "NBA sponsors see recognition rebounds". SportsBusiness Journal. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ Proctor, Tony; Kitchen, Philip J. (2018). "Celebrity ambassador/celebrity endorsement – takes a licking but keeps on ticking". Journal of Strategic Marketing: 1–15. doi:10.1080/0965254X.2018.1430059.
- ^ Penrose, Nerisha. "Jamie Foxx, Common, Nick Cannon & More to Participate in 2018 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game". Billboard. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ Flynn, Leisa; Goldsmith, Ronald; Eastman, Jacqualine. "Opinion leaders and opinion seekers: two new measurement scales". Journal of the Academy of marketing science. 24 (2): 138-139.
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(help) - ^ Walters, Mike. "David Beckham attends as Kobe Bryant ends legendary NBA career with 60-point game". Mirror. Retrieved 15 March 2018.