NBA sponsorship business sets a revenue record for the sixth straight year as ad inventory all but sells out

The NBA’s overall sponsorship business has produced record revenue for six consecutive years, a source familiar with the data said. Sponsorships now account for 15 percent of league revenues, at least $1.9 billion a year, Sam Bradley writes.

The advertising market is just as tight. “Demand is very high for the NBA across the board,” said Adam Schwartz, senior vice president and director of national broadcast, sports media at Horizon Media. Five media buyers said Peacock, Amazon and Disney inventory is all but sold out for the season, with Amazon steering buyers toward its League Pass product to clear room. Streaming ad spend reached $874 million last season, the first under the league’s renewed rights deal, and some broadcasters are gating NBA spots behind combination buys usually reserved for events like the Super Bowl.

The draw is a young, digitally inclined audience. Blockchain and digital security firm Ledger, which became the Spurs’ jersey patch and official digital asset partner last year, is already seeing returns: Spurs fans are 4.8 times as likely as regular consumers to call Ledger a market-leading firm in its category, and twice as likely to prefer it over competitors, according to a Wakefield Research Partners study.

The league’s latest promotion plays to the same crowd. Five Emirates-logoed NBA Cup game balls were hidden last month at locations throughout Indianapolis tied to the city’s basketball history, and the finders will receive tickets to the Dec. 11 Emirates NBA Cup championship at Hinkle Fieldhouse. It is the fourth edition of the event and the third with Emirates as title sponsor, and it arrives days after the league and Prime Video launched their “Emirates NBA Cup University” campaign.