Amazon is planning a number of interactive features and personalization for fans when it begins airing NBA games on Prime Video starting Oct. 24.
The offerings from Prime Sports will include a personalized bet tracking experience with FanDuel, a fully-customizable multiview offering, AI-driven highlights on demand, live stats, the ability to shop within the game, and more.
Amazon scored an 11-year deal with the league last year that begins with the upcoming season and includes exclusive streaming rights to 66 regular season games as well as playoff games.
“NBA on Prime” is a huge addition to Amazon’s growing sports streaming catalog, which already includes the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” as well as live action from several other leagues and teams, such as NASCAR and Premiere League soccer.
Amazon uses its Prime Video arm to help drive signups for its Prime membership program, which costs $139/year and offers various benefits including free shipping and streaming.
As more people cut the cord, sports leagues are increasingly engaging with tech companies as their existing deals with traditional cable providers expire. Those companies are hungry for valuable content such as live sports — one of the most-watched telecasts — to draw more subscribers to their respective platforms.
Bloomberg reported that Amazon is paying $1.8 billion annually for the NBA rights.
Here are the highlights of the new game integrations:
Personalized bet tracking and Odds View with FanDuel
The opt-in, personalized bet tracking experience with FanDuel provides real-time integration of betting information during live game action. When a fan links their Prime Video profile to their FanDuel account, their active NBA bets will be displayed and updated on the screen, along with relevant progress and won/lost status. The feature does not offer the ability to place bets directly on Prime Video.
In addition to tracking personal bets, an immersive Odds View experience (available on supported devices) can be activated that presents a rotating feed of live odds, lines and probabilities associated with popular bets, including moneylines, spreads, totals, player props, parlays, game props, and more. The overlay adds context to the game and highlights how players and teams are performing relative to betting markets.
In 2018, Amazon rolled out a quarterly predictions feature for its livestreamed NFL games on Twitch. There wasn’t really anything on the line other than fan bragging rights, but it alluded to how live interactive technology could take off as sports betting becomes legal in more U.S. states.
Multiview
Viewers who subscribe to Prime Video and NBA League Pass, the league’s subscription streaming service, can simultaneously watch a combination games across a majority of devices. Fans can create their viewing setup by selecting their primary game for the larger window while keeping tabs on other NBA matchups in smaller windows.
Key Moments
Key Moments allows fans to access the most exciting and pivotal plays throughout the game in real-time. The feature utilizes AI to curate what Amazon calls “plays that matter” — such as a big dunk or a pivotal three-pointer. At any point in the game, fans can relive or catch up on the growing collection of in-game highlights, each featuring a full description of the play.
Rapid Recap
Using more AI, Rapid Recap provides a curated highlight reel to bring fans up to speed on a game in two minutes or less, with views of the most impactful basketball moments before transitioning back to live action.
Stats
Fans can check player and team stats — without leaving the live game — with traditional box score stats as well as advanced stats powered by AWS.
Shop the Game
Shop the Game gives viewers access NBA fashion items and deals without leaving the action. Viewers can search “shop the game” in the Amazon Shopping app, or use their remote’s “up” button while watching NBA on Prime to reveal an interactive Shop tab that sends notifications to their mobile device.
