“This new NBA deal is a true watershed moment for media and sports, and will change both industries forever,” the IAB’s Cohen said. “All eyes are going to turn to how Amazon performs.”
In another league
The NBA already received a peek at Amazon’s broadcast performance through Prime Video’s partnership with the WNBA, whose own media rights deal remains something of a mystery.
It is uncertain whether or not the WNBA’s rights are tied into the new NBA deal, but WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert pointed out during the WNBA Draft in April that her league had deals with Amazon, CBS and Scripps’ ION that the NBA didn’t share.
At the time—just before the league drafted a class of star rookies including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso and Aaliyah Edwards—Engelbert noted that the NBA and WNBA have a combined footprint of more than 320 days. For streamers with a subscription model—even those already partnered with the WNBA—that broader calendar can be an attractive proposition.
“There’s no other set of two sports leagues that can offer that live programming and sports to a streamer,” Engelbert said during a draft press conference. “I would say we probably, in that case, need the NBA because we have a smaller footprint with only 40 games, and it’s nice to go to market together. So where it makes sense to go together, we will.”
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