Facebook Live ups its NBA broadcasts with Orlando Magic agreement
As Twitter presses ahead with is NFL Thursday Night Football live streams, Facebook is similarly building its portfolio for broadcasting live sports through the NBA having announced that Orlando Magic's upcoming fixture against the San Antonio Spurs will be shown exclusively on Facebook Live.
Orlando Magic fans will be able to watch the team's preseason game on Facebook Live
Orlando's preseason home game against San Antonio on Wednesday 12 October will mark the first time that the team have aired one of their games through a streaming only format as neither Fox Sports Florida or NBA League Pass will broadcast the game.
Coverage of the game will be available to viewers within 75 miles of the Amway Center, which will stage the game, to conform to NBA media regulations intend to keep traffic flowing towards its own channels. Similar restrictions have been put in place in the NFL which recently announced new social media restrictions for its teams.
Facebook Live has become the platform of choice for NBA teams looking to experiment with emerging broadcast alternatives. The Atlanta Hawks recently used the platform to live stream an open practice which generated more than one million views. Such results illustrate the potential of new broadcast methods which will play a major role in reshaping the revenue streams of the US sports industry as a whole.
Earlier this summer the NBA announced that it would use Facebook Live to stream nine warm-up games for Team USA's Olympic preparations
The NBA's use of Facebook as a streaming partner has allowed the league to capitalise on the demand from fans to see more action from preseason games which are often not televised. The league will likely continue to turn to Facebook Live as the platform of choice for live streaming given that it has the largest following on the platform out of all the US sports leagues.
Outside of sport Facebook Live has been gaining momentum with a number of brands utilising the platform, including: