NBA League Pass tipped off the 2018-19 season by introducing a series of innovative, fan-focused initiatives that provide more ways to watch live NBA game coverage than ever before. Fans are now able to purchase and watch live NBA games in-progress at a reduced price with NBA League Pass’s microtransaction options. In addition to League Pass subscriptions, fans can utilize quarter-by-quarter pricing option, which offers a single game at reduced prices after each quarter. Single games are available for $6.99, with the option to pay $4.99 at the end of the first quarter, $2.99 at the end of the second quarter and $1.99 at the end of the third quarter. Most recently the NBA 10-Minute Pass was launched, providing fans the option to purchase 10 minutes of real-time access to NBA League Pass, including live out-of-market NBA games and the full season’s library of archived games, for $0.99.

As NBA content consumption continues to grow on smartphones and other mobile devices, NBA League Pass wanted to create a product that offered options that are more in line with consumption behaviors on these platforms. By lowering the barrier of entry to access live, high-quality streams of NBA games, it appeals to a broader set of fans following along via social media or real-time stats who might otherwise never experience the League Pass product. When faced with organic triggers such as a close game going down to the wire, or a star player about to break an historic scoring record, fans can jump into the live game and get a much more engaging content experience.

Implementation: For quarter-by-quarter pricing, the end of each quarter of an NBA game triggers a reduction in price for the purchase of that game. Users have access to that game live, as well as an archived video on demand file to view the game in its entirety later. For NBA 10-Minute Pass, once the purchase is confirmed, 10 minutes of real-time access to League Pass is given to users who can watch and switch between any live game currently available, as well as access any archived content.

Timeline: At the start of the 2018-19 NBA season, NBA League Pass began offering the ability to purchase a single game from the end of the third quarter to the conclusion of the game for $1.99. In December 2018, quarter-by-quarter pricing became available. NBA 10-Minute Pass launched internationally January 2019 followed by the domestic launch in March 2019.

Placement: NBA League Pass

Reach: The availability of additional microtransactional options has helped pave the way to a 22% increase in unique viewers of League Pass. Additionally, as 75% of these microtransactional purchases happen on a mobile device, we’ve also seen a 20% uptick of unique users to the NBA App.

Engagement: League Pass viewers are watching 15% more videos this season than last.

Impact: One-time transaction sales have increased 35% compared to this time last year. This growth is expected to increase further once NBA 10-Minute Pass officially launches.