In this week’s SBJ Tech newsletter, my tech colleague Rob Schaefer breaks down Videocites’ rebrand to Ripple Analytics, while I offer some thoughts on our recent announcement of SBA: Tech finalists. — Ethan Joyce
In today’s edition of Power Up:
- NBA’s Tap to Watch effort continues to yield results
- ESPN adds ‘AO Animated’ altcasts for Australian Open
- WSC Sports acquires Partnerbrite
NBA’s Tap to Watch effort continues to yield results
The NBA’s Tap to Watch initiative, which was launched before this season and is a Sports Business Awards: Tech 2026 nominee, continues to yield results for the league, as the effort has driven fans to more than 10 million live game streams, with nationally televised games making up 75% of that engagement.
The NBA App also continues to see better engagement over last season after the league improved a number of features. There’s been a 30% year-over-year uptick in game page visits per user per week in the app, as it added new features on those pages like “Catch Up with Key Plays” and “Multi-view.” Additionally, there’s been a 68% increase in player profile page visits per week after game pages were overhauled late last season.
Per data from Sensor Tower, the NBA App finished 2025 with 8.4 million downloads across the Apple Store and Google Play, which is tops among all league-owned sports mobile apps.
ESPN adds ‘AO Animated’ altcasts for Australian Open
ESPN will offer animated alternate streams of the Australian Open men’s/women’s semifinals and finals as part of the ESPN Unlimited package in its direct-to-consumer app. The first animated matches will air Thursday morning, starting at 3:30am ET for the semifinal between Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina (followed by Elena Rybakina vs. Jessica Pegula).
The streams, which depict players as cartoon characters inspired by the mobile game “AO Tennis Smash,” are branded “AO Animated” and will be produced by Tennis Australia. Although this is their first time on ESPN, the format was first developed years ago through Tennis Australia’s in-house tech incubator, AO Labs. During the 2025 Australian Open, Tennis Australia showed full animated matches live and for free on the Australian Open’s YouTube channel, garnering hundreds of thousands of views and social media buzz. (The tournament has continued to put out animated highlight reels of best points but not livestreams; ESPN Unlimited is $29.99 per month.) Tennis Channel also partnered with Tennis Australia to use the cartoon format for alt-casts of last year’s Laver Cup.
It is not known if ESPN and Tennis Australia adjusted the rights fee within its ongoing U.S. media deal around the Australian Open (which runs through 2031) to include the streams, or if they will continue to be offered by ESPN after this year. An ESPN spokesperson described AO Animated as now “part and parcel of our U.S. rights deal,” and deferred a question about whether the streams will include commentary to Tennis Australia, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
ESPN has aired Australian Open matches across a combination of its linear networks, ESPN Unlimited and ESPN+, with several premium matchups exclusive to ESPN Unlimited as part of the network’s ongoing efforts to drive subscribers to the top subscription tier of its app. ESPN2, meanwhile, this year saw a 13% viewership uptick for its coverage of the third round compared to 2025, averaging a couple hundred thousand viewers. That came after the first round on ESPN2 also saw a 14% year-over-year uptick, averaging 156,000 viewers.
SBJ media writer Austin Karp contributed to this report.
WSC Sports acquires Partnerbrite
WSC Sports has acquired Partnerbrite, folding sponsorship campaign capabilities into WSC Sports’ AI-powered content creation and distribution.
London-based Partnerbrite’s brand will continue to exist, bringing WSC Sports’ total employee number to 665. No outside firm helped with the acquisition.
The pairing of the two platforms gives rights-holders a more unified fan data experience and also connects sponsorship activations to more real-time content. It will allow campaigns to become more personalized for fans, similar to the content journeys that WSC Sports has helped the NBA with in reaching its global fan base.
WSC Sports was named one of SBJ’s 10 Most Innovative Sports Tech Companies in 2023.
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