The idea behind the Fan Night 1-on-1 stunt was to continue the conversation on an evergreen topic allowing our stable of NBA TV talent and fans to discuss and debate. NBA Digital & NBA TV launched a virtual 1-on-1 tournament pitting the 16 best NBA players against each other to determine the virtual 1-on-1 champion. Each Tuesday, fans voted on the featured 1-on-1 matchup— (ex. Paul Pierce vs. Joe Johnson) via social (Facebook and Twitter) and on NBA.com. The players were selected on the following Monday and Tuesday night during the Fan Night telecast, and the winners of the match ups advanced to the next round. The conversation continued on social throughout the week in anticipation for the winner. NBA Digital and NBA TV hitched on to the back of a popular basketball topic – who would win in a 1 on 1 contest. We took advantage of a Michael Jordan interview from earlier this season (where he was asked who could beat him in a 1 on 1), and created our own "Fan Night 1 on 1 Challenge" where two players were pitted against one another in a hypothetical match-up. The virtual tournament launched November 5th, during the first Fan Night of the NBA season. Host Ernie Johnson explained the layout, showcasing the match-ups that were live on NBA.com. Greg Anthony and Chris Webber debated the first two match-ups and discussed who they would select and why. We used this as an opportunity to spark conversation and debate with fans, players and other NBA TV talent across multiple platforms. A player advanced each week, based off the votes of fans. We utilized Poptip to aggregate and manage the social polls that were sent out via the NBA TV Twitter and Facebook pages. Fans could vote for their player using a hashtag corresponding to their preferred player (ex. #1on1kobe) every Tuesday from noon until the midpoint of the game. A unique graphic was created to share with the poll that displayed the two players and their unique hashtags, and voting was teased throughout the day on social. The Fan Night 1 on 1 was a weekly topic for discussion during the NBA TV Starters Tuesday podcast, and was also featured weekly on Sekou Smith’s Hangtime Blog on NBA.com, which included an embedded poll where fans could also vote. During each Fan Night, Greg Anthony and Chris Webber discussed and debated the weekly matchup, and a call to action was announced on-air for fans to “tweet their vote to @NBATV using #1on1Player1 vs. #1on1Player2". We then provided the poll results page link to production for them to use as they saw fit throughout the night. The results were revealed in the postgame show, and the next week’s matchup was also teased. Fans were extremely invested in the match up polls to see their favorite players advance, and we were even able to get multiple players throughout the league to comment on the theoretical match-ups throughout the tournament. In addition to players, even had an NBA owner weigh in (Tweet from Mickey Arison). Media which highlights the integration on multiple platforms: Early Round Matchup http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1886423-paul-george-thinks-he-would-beat-kevin-durant-in-game-of-1-on-1?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2013/12/10/20131210-1on1-pg-kd.nba/ Final Matchup KD vs. Lebron All-Star Weekend: Hangtime blog post of Final Matchup with videos both KD and Lebron commenting http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/02/16/fan-night-1-on-1-finals-lebron-vs-kd/ I
Video of Players commenting during All-Star weekend on Lebron – Durant matchup. Posted on NBA.com and through all social platforms (TW, FB, Instagram) to promote Final Vote. http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2014/02/17/kd-lbj-1on1.nba/index.html
