Interaction Design | User Experience Design | AR Design | Design Innovation

NBA AR Streaming

The NBA reflects contemporary basketball culture and its progressive nature. Varied sports knowledge among viewers affects their experience and the league's growth, necessitating innovative, personalized content delivery for all fans in an era of technological change.

There is a need to renew sports media content through innovation, personalization, and immersion.

How might we design a product that integrates data and diverse viewpoints, guiding fans to understand, participate, and navigate game content using emerging interactive technologies?

My Role

UX Research; NBA Business Model Analysis; Business Model Canvas; AR Low-Fi / High-Fi Prototype & Development

Team

Duo Xu

Timeline

July 2022 - Dec 2022

Jump to Solution

Project Summary

This project aims at contributing to sports communication and relationship marketing literature by suggesting empirical evidence of the fans’ needs and wants for the NBA digital content from users’ standpoint.

Through interactive AR technology and a customizable subscription package, this product allows different levels of users to understand, participate, and enjoy watching NBA live games.

Design Challenge

Research Method

To begin my research, I conducted secondary research on the current NBA revenue system and created a map.

This infographic allows me to analyze each category and to identify NBA’s ultimate goal, which is to acquire newbies and keep fans coming back to receive more funds and financial support and spread brand awareness.

The graph below is the performance of the NBA from 1949 to 2021, analyzed from three different perspectives: NBA attendance by season, Average TV viewership of final games, and Total league revenues. The decline in viewership and attendance has impacted revenues and the NBA’s market position, which prompted our study on fan trends.

Interviews

To boost engagement, targeting younger mainstream users, especially Generation Z, is essential. Considering their preferences will help predict future media consumption.

To better understand the upcoming main source of audiences, I interviewed 7 Generation Z and asked about their opinions and attitudes toward NBA-watching experiences.

Surveys

Secondary Research

I have collected 50 responses to collect quantitative data to analyze Gen Z characteristics, Gen Z’s opinions on sports consumption behaviors, and the digital platforms they use to track sports-related news and information.

Analysis

I then identified the types of contents ans services that should bring to the audiences:

They seek customizable, engaging, shareable content with a personal touch, and expect real-time, dense professional updates, reflecting their need to stay informed always.

Mobile media platforms are a key touchpoint for Gen Z to track sports related news and information, which reflect the shift towards multi-platforms, and the behavior change of demanding short-form content.

After the ground research, I analyzed the content Gen Z prefers from other platforms. To assist our design process, we made a Venn diagram comparing what Gen Z wants and what the NBA currently offers

To Create Immersive watching experiences through digital platform
To Improve Game’s understanding with real-time data and explanations

Gen Z is much less enthusiastic about sports in general comparing with the older generations.

From our research, the NBA needs a channel to deliver sought-after information.
Watching NBA games has a steep learning curve with high cognitive demands, the current presentation is dull.

Conceptualization

Design Metrics

Based on the research and synthesized findings, we developed a table of design metrics as guidelines.

Design Strategy

We identified varying individual needs during game viewing. We then categorized these needs and designed functions tailored to different user types:

New audiences wanting to learn and engage
Casual fans with basic NBA knowledge
Avid fans valuing the atmosphere
Professional fans keen on tactics and data

The table below tailored functions to meet each group's needs.

To achieve our goal, the biggest challenge is to create more contents with diversity.

So, how to build an effective ecosystem for NBA to generate more contents?

Solution one: Through a platform to integrate online UGC

Solution two: Provide new experience to enhance engagement

Solution three: Multi-Channel Contents Distribution in one game

There is a missing channel to distribute the content - PARTNERSHIP WITH LEGO

Persona

To continue constructing our design, we need to explore our target users further in order to innovate an exemplary system in which everyone is passionate and involved.

At present, we have classified four types of fans in the previous research: new audiences, casual fans, avid fans, and professional fans.

We have identified three types of user models in light of these audiences' behaviors. They each have different needs, purposes for watching live NBA games, and sports-consuming behaviors; thus, the content and services they demand vary.