NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancillary Camera Angles, Real-Time Highlights
The effort creates an engaging, intuitive, interactive fan experience
Story Highlights
Whether in the studio or on the court, NBC Sports is looking to create a wholly different experience for NBA fans as it tips off its new 11-year media-rights deal tonight. The innovation is evident in the broadcaster’s plans for livestreaming the NBA on Peacock. Building on its groundbreaking work for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Peacock’s NBA streaming experience promises to be among the most intuitive and interactive that NBA fans have ever seen.
NBCUniversal Media Group’s John Jelley: “Our goal is not only to create the best possible viewing experience on Peacock but also for these features to help add value to the main broadcast.”
“The goal is to get both die-hard and casual fans more engaged as they’re watching the game, regardless of what device they’re watching on,” says John Jelley, SVP, product and UX, NBCUniversal Media Group. “What we’ve learned with the Olympics and other sports is that the more ways there are to watch, the more additive these elements become to one another. It is not like one is substitutional of another. People are watching on their phone, watching on TV, and bouncing between these different views. Ultimately, that results in them watching for longer and being more engaged.”
Chief among the new features are the optional Peacock Performance View mode with an on-screen data overlay, Courtside Live alternative camera feeds, instant game access in the app via a Live in Browse feature, Key Play highlights so viewers can catch up on games in progress, and a dedicated playlist of 9:16 Can’t Miss Highlights creating a TikTok-like experience for fans. And, according to Jelley, this was all made possible by an unprecedented level of integration between the Peacock team and NBC Sports’ production team.
“The key to all of this was creating a smooth integration with the production team,” he says. “Our goal is not only to create the best possible viewing experience on Peacock but also for these features to augment and help add value to the main broadcast.”
Instant Game Access, Easy Catch-Up With Key Plays
Peacock will make it easier than ever to stream NBA games, with the convenient Live in Browse feature allowing fans to jump straight into the action as soon as they open the app. Real-time insights and stats on the home page will give fans instant context about the match-up before they start watching the game.
A Live in Browse feature allowing fans to jump straight into the action as soon as they open the Peacock app. Real-time insights and stats on the home page will give fans instant context about the match-up.
“When you come to the Peacock app,” says Jelley, “the first thing you’re going to see is the live game. You’re going to get straight into the action without touching anything. We’ll also show key-player performance stats to draw you into the game and show you why it might be an interesting game to tune into.”
NBC Sports has been testing this feature on a handful of other live sports productions on Peacock, Jelley says, noting that the data indicates that the feature “gets people watching that game more and gets them watching for longer. We are reducing that friction because you are already in the game the minute that you arrive in the app.”
In addition, fans tuning in late can use the Catch Up With Key Plays feature during a live game from any device.
Peacock Performance View: Diving Deeper Into the Data Game
Peacock Performance View is a new viewing mode featuring an on-screen data overlay that illustrates deep analytics and helps fans understand what might happen before it occurs on the court. Performance View, which will available later this season, offers player-pointer graphics and real-time stats that break down the game on a whole new level. Viewers will see graphically when player is on a shooting streak, where they are most likely to score from next, when a player is open to receive a pass, and more.
“It’s as if you’re seeing things before they happen while you’re watching the game,” says Jelley.
Peacock Performance View mode, which will launch later this season, lets fans view real-time stats that break down the game. On-screen data overlay helps fans understand what might happen, before it does.
When it launches this season, Performance View will be accessed directly through the NBA hub on Peacock. Starting later this season, viewers will be able to toggle the feature on or off seamlessly within the livestream. The backend has also been fully integrated with the on-air graphics from the main broadcast to avoid duplicating stats or elements on the screen.
Although Amazon Prime Video’s Prime Vision viewing experience has proved a big hit with NFL fans on Thursday Night Football, Jelley believes Performance View will appeal more to the masses. “We’re trying to appeal more to the casual fan in addition to the avid fan. Everything we’ve been testing is through that lens: how do you engage a casual consumer that hasn’t experienced basketball much in the past, while also appealing to the avid fan audience that wants to go deeper?
“We feel that we struck that balance perfectly during the Olympics, and we found a lot of success in that,” he continues. “During the Olympics, we got 25% of all Olympics viewers to use multiview. Our goal here is to get users trying out these experiences and, by having that close integration on-air, making it easy for people to discover them.”
Peacock Scorecard: ‘Bingo Meets Fantasy Sports’
Another new feature available in both the TV and the streaming experience will be Peacock Scorecard: a first-of-its-kind, real-time streaming experience that Jelley equates to “bingo meets fantasy sports.” Fans will have the option to scroll to choose a game card based on a team or theme and earn points depending on what happens during the game.
Peacock ScoreCard allows fans to scroll to choose a game card based on a team or theme and then earn points depending on what happens during the game. Personalized alerts will let fans know how they are doing throughout the match-up and how they stack up against other players.
Personalized Peacock Scorecard alerts will let fans know how they are doing throughout the match-up and how they stack up against other players. Top-ranked users will even see their username on-air as part of a season leaderboard, and the competition will be referenced regularly during NBC and Peacock linear broadcasts.
“We’re focused on making this fun and accessible for fans,” says Jelley. “We are broadening the aperture beyond the passionate avid fan and including the more casual fan, who may just be starting to get engaged. You can imagine playing this as a household or with your friends and how it will add an entirely different angle to how you watch the game.
“The goal is to get fans more engaged as they’re watching the game,” he continues. “We are also bringing some clout to the viewer on [the linear broadcast] by showing who is winning at halftime and at the end of the game.”
Can’t Miss Highlights: Going Beyond the Live Feed
For mobile users watching on the go, the dedicated Can’t Miss Highlights playlist will have the latest game clips — framed in 9:16 for a more mobile-friendly experience — as well as notable pre/postgame moments from across the league. With one tap, fans can get to the live game from which that clip came on Peacock.
Available on mobile, Can’t Miss Highlights will offer real-time highlight reels, pulling in-game clips, and with one quick tap, viewers can jump straight into the live game on Peacock. The “Game Recap” rail will have two-minute highlights from every NBA game, even those not streaming on Peacock.
“It’s just like on a social app, where you can tap through and see all the key plays from around the league that night,” says Jelley. “You can link directly to the live broadcast of that game. It’s a one-stop shop for all the action across the league.”
Can’t Miss Highlights will offer action from every NBA game, including those carried on ESPN and Prime Video. All clips will be vertical video to create a more seamless experience for mobile users.
“We’re using a mixture of computer vision, real-time data, and human [inspection] to create the 9:16 clips [from the original 16:9 feed],” Jelley explains. “The goal is to have these highlights drop as fast as possible on your phone so you can quickly catch up to live.”
Courtside Live: Capturing the Energy at the Arena
Starting in the second half of the season, NBC Sports will offer the Courtside Live feature on Monday’s Peacock Exclusive Games, providing fans with a courtside-seat experience of the energy and atmosphere at the arena. The specially curated viewing experience will spotlight such moments as player arrivals showcasing players’ style, as well as pregame shoot-arounds, player spotlights, and courtside reactions from celebrity row and both teams’ benches.
“We are trying to capture the culture of the game and what it’s like to be courtside,” says Jelley. “That means the atmosphere, the music, the fashion, and the celebrities. We have provided a medley of unique game angles exclusive to this experience that you can select and overlay over the main broadcast feed as you watch.”
NBC worked with the league to deploy ancillary cameras on the court and throughout the arena to capture these unique perspectives. The insider angles immerse fans even more deeply into the game, whether they are on the go and watching on mobile or via a special multiview on the TV at home.
“If you want to just watch the game from a star-spotlight perspective,” says Jelley, “you can do that while still watching the main broadcast. You can move that star-spotlight feed around [within the frame] of the main broadcast, and you can still hear all the commentary. This experience will be available in multiview, so you can watch all these things at once if you opt for that experience.”
Looking Ahead: NBA Provides Perfect Testing Ground for Peacock
Although the focus is on tonight’s NBA tipoff, Jelley acknowledges that many of these features could soon find their way onto other NBC Sports properties.
“One of the greatest aspects about this experience is, it can extend over time to other sports,” he notes. “We’re using the NBA much like we did with the Olympics: as a kind of learning and testing ground. We will eventually extend it to other properties, including for the Winter Olympics in February.”
