NBA unveils NB-AI chatbot to combat declining viewership of basketball games especially among Gen Z and younger

The NBA commissioner unveiled the NB-AI voice assistant at the 2024 NBA All-Star Tech Summit. This new technology is an attempt to build NBA engagement and fans in light of declining TV viewership.

The sports industry was built on the surge of home TV ownership after WWII. Free game broadcasts enabled the NBA to build a large base of fans. However, TV ownership of those born after 1997 (Gen Z and younger) has steadily declined. Whether surveyed by Nielsen or Deloitte, watching TV is not the youth's favorite pastime, so sports viewership has steadily declined in recent years.

The NBA has started to use 3D VR, LED, and AI technologies to counter this worrisome trend. Fans can watch games in 3D VR following the partnership with Meta while the LED basketball court displays replays, stats, and animations.

The NB-AI is an AI chatbot to engage the new generation of non-TV viewers. In a brief demonstration, the chatbot played a basketball movie when asked. More impressively, the voice assistant created a stylized game clip that had the appearance similar to an anime-style video game. This taps into the strong gaming interest the young have. Additional features and availability were not announced.

Until the NB-AI is released, why not play some hoops IRL with a nice basketball (like this at Amazon).