Madison Avenue is chasing the NBA bouncing ball.
American Express, State Farm, McDonald’s, Kia and Wingstop are among the sponsors lined up to support new NBCuniversal programming related to the new 11-year rights agreement that places NBA games on three different nights of the week for the NBC Broadcast Network or Peacock streaming service.
Peter Lazaro, Executive Vice President of Advertising and Partnerships for NBC Sports & Olympics, said: “Advertisers wanted to invest beyond linear, streaming and digital, which led to sold out.”
NBCuniversal will have three different NBA nights rolling out over the next few months. Starting October 27th, Peacock will stream up to three NBA games on Monday throughout the regular season, with a 30-minute studio program set to lead to game coverage. Starting October 28th, NBC will be introducing the doubleheader on Tuesday nights. One is the expected number of NBC stations in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, and another game on NBC stations in the Pacific and Mountain Time Zones, both games will be streamed live on Peacock and offer a half-hour studio program.
After NBC closes its Sunday night NFL package, it is scheduled to launch “Sunday Night Basketball” at both NBC and Peacock on February 1st next year, with schedules being suspended due to coverage of the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game and 2026 Winter Olympics.
The NBA’s arrival on the NBC schedule has resulted in millions of dollars in advertising that have been primarily allocated to properties owned by the NBA’s main partner, Warner Bros. Discovery, for many years. The company was unable to come up with a proposition the NBA liked, and the league attacked new deals with NBCU, Amazon and Disney, which are scheduled to continue into the 2036-37 season. NBCU said in July that the new NBA rights agreement spurred a 15% increase in “previous” advertising commitments, with a quarter of NBA sponsors being new to traditional linear television.
Nearly 170 advertisers line up to support the NBA game on Monday, saying “almost all stock is already sold out.”
American Express is the official halftime sponsor of all NBA games. “We are pleased to announce that we are committed to providing a range of services to our customers,” said Jill Hamilton, vice president of global media at Financial Services Company.
Kia will be the presentation sponsor for the Tuesday night doubleheader, and McDonald will be sponsoring “Basketball Night” and “NBA Showtime” on Sunday night. State Farm backs “NBA Showtime” on Tuesday, and Wingstop sponsors it on Monday. Xfinity, a cable service provided by NBCU Parent Comcast, will serve as a presentation sponsor for the Monday Night Game at Peacock.
