NBA League Pass price reduction is a step toward transforming sports streams

Most sporting leagues have caught up with the times, connecting with audiences of all ages across social and digital platforms. However, the one place where they continually fall flat is with streaming. Nielsen recently reported that streaming viewership surpassed cable viewership for the first time ever in July 2022 with 34.8% of consumers watching their favorite programs online. This presents a tremendous opportunity that NBA League Pass appears to be capitalizing on with its most recent shift.

As reported by Jacob Feldman at Sportico, the league’s flagship streaming program, NBA League Pass, plans to slash its prices by more than half for the upcoming season. This will effectively draw more consumers to its platform at a cost that’s comparable to what many pay for their monthly Netflix, Hulu, or ESPN+ bill.

This new $100 annual cost matches the price of ESPN+ and is markedly less than the NBA’s two biggest domestic competitors, the NFL and MLB. Last year’s NBA League Pass + NBATV yearlong package cost $229.99, which was approx. $64 less than NFL Sunday Ticket and $90 more than MLB.TV. For reference, 12 months of Netflix’s standard plan costs approx. $186.

A more affordable NBA League Pass is the first step to changing sports streams.

By cutting the price of its live streaming platform to a market-tested and supported price point, the NBA is killing two birds with one stone. First off, many users in younger and/or lower income demographics are more likely to subscribe to NBA League Pass instead of waging a war against pop-ups by watching on illegal streams. On the flip side, the league inserts its product into the ‘Streaming Wars’ against a wider range of services like the Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and HBO Maxes of the world while becoming more accessible than other major sports leagues.

While entertainment companies and media conglomerates scramble to draw people onto their platforms, sporting leagues have generally stuck to what they know: TV deals. It’ll be difficult compensating for lost revenue from exclusive rights deals, but at the same time, the NBA can maintain those interests through blackouts for local markets while broadening a more casual audience’s view of the league.

By this point in the transition, most Americans are subscribed to at least a streaming service or two. Many also have the password to someone else’s account, compiling streaming access like lucky pennies. If the budget for streaming is limited to one or two services per year for an average user, basketball fans would be more inclined to sacrifice one of their other streaming service for access to hundreds of basketball games every season.

With this shift, NBA League Pass becomes the first sports streaming service to insert itself into the pricepoint of common services. This differs greatly from the former League Pass rate or that of NFL Sunday Ticket, which ends up costing the same amount you could pay for access to three more traditional streamers. In turn, the NBA has the chance to tap into a wider range of consumers and in turn, more households.

So on top of being a massive success story on social media and in the global marketplace, the most prolific basketball league in the world is planting its feet in the streaming game to expand its audience and grasp a stronger hold on the attention of your average sports fan.

The NBA is playing chess while the competition plays checkers when it comes to its newest strategy in streaming.