NEW YORK — The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced the launch of “Tap to Watch,” a new digital initiative that simplifies how fans find and access live streams of NBA games, beginning with the 2025-26 season. Tap to Watch will leverage the NBA’s extensive digital ecosystem to seamlessly direct fans to live NBA games from across the league, team and a range of popular third-party digital platforms, including all national games on ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Prime Video, as well as nearly all local games.
In addition to the NBA app, NBA.com and team apps and websites, Tap to Watch will provide access to game broadcasts through national and local media partners and through other NBA partners such as Google, Meta, X, Snap, Reddit, Roku, Dapper Labs and more. Additional integrations with FanDuel, Fanatics and Yahoo Sports, as well as other digital and connected TV partners, will roll out throughout the season.
“We are proud to collaborate with our partners across the NBA digital ecosystem to make live games more accessible to our fans with Tap to Watch,” said Chris Benyarko, NBA Direct-to-Consumer Product, Technology and Operations Manager. “Whether it’s browsing social media, using the NBA app, or checking scores on a partner platform, fans will know exactly where our games are and be taken directly there.”
How Tap to Watch works for fans:
- NBA digital platforms: Fans can easily find and watch live NBA games through the leagues’ and teams’ digital platforms, which serve as a gateway to basketball content. The “Games” and “Schedule” pages on NBA.com, the NBA app and team sites will display viewing options based on user information such as location. On these pages, fans can press the “watch” button and be taken directly to the appropriate streaming service (national, local, or NBA League Pass depending on the game and location), where they can start watching if they are a subscriber, or sign up if not.
- Third-party platforms: “Watch” calls to action across digital and social media platforms will be organically integrated into each partner’s offering in a way unique to each platform and will direct fans to the live broadcast of the appropriate national or local match.
The NBA app will also now feature real-time scoring, which will include a live clock with scores synchronized to NBA arenas, with virtually no latency. This feature will bring fans closer to the action as they navigate to their live game destination.
