How the NBL turned a mid-season lull into an engagement goldmine

A deep dive into how the NBL crafted the "Summer Shootout," an initiative that generated 18K+ participating fans, over 10K new marketable leads, and an 188% growth in fan participation year-over-year.

The partner

The National Basketball League (NBL) is the premier men's professional basketball league in Australia and New Zealand, and one of the fastest-growing sports leagues in the world. They also run NBL 1, a semi-professional basketball league comprised of 77 teams, and have recently acquired the WNBL – the premier women's basketball league. 

The NBL aspires to make every one of their campaigns feel like an extension of what’s happening on the court, using key moments in the season to allow fans to really get involved and participate, not just watch. 

The Challenge: competing for attention

Picture this: It’s January in Australia. Schools are out, Cricket now dominates the headlines, and Tennis serves up the Grand Slam. And your league?  You’re having to fight for attention.

This is the reality the National Basketball League (NBL) faces every summer. Despite being Australia’s premier basketball competition and one of the world’s fastest-growing sports leagues, they see a disruption in the summer months when they’re competing for brain space against established summer sports and holiday distractions.

What the campaign aimed to solve:

• No clear moment in January: After the big broadcast push for Christmas, the league was moving into January, where they had heaps of games, but no real tentpole moment in the calendar to keep attention
• Flatlining team narratives: As some clubs fell out of the finals race, the league needed a way to make those games still worth watching
• Manufacturing hype: With no playoff implications for some games, adding an extra layer of tension gave fans a reason to care about every score

The NBL needed to create a moment that would amplify engagement and keep their fans focused on them.  So, their team devised a massive initiative called “Summer Shootout” and worked with Tradable Bits to pull it off.

The Strategy: gamification meets high-stakes drama 

The goal was to bring drama that fans would stay attentive to, but the concept was strategically complex. It required 2 different audiences: individual NBL teams and NBL fans. They wanted the entire ecosystem to be brought into the initiative.

For Teams:  The league put up $50,000 for one club to win. Each NBL club selected one away game in January to “go all out” on scoring. The team that scored the highest during their chosen game won $50,000 - no matter their standing in the league.

For Fans: Fans picked the NBL team they thought would win the most points at an away game, and predicted their exact score. If they nailed both, they’d be in the running for a huge prize of $100,000. 

The Execution: multi-channel precision

The NBL didn’t just launch a campaign – they orchestrated an experience across all of their touchpoints:

1. Broadcast Integration

• They launched live QR codes during games with a simple entry process
• Had commentator segments explaining team selections and reasoning
• Pushed real-time updates on fan predictions and remaining contenders even after the campaign was closed  to new entries

2. Digital Amplification

• Created a standalone microsite with FAQs, leaderboards, upcoming games, a “watch-and-win” extra engagement, and a “Shootout Explained" Video
• Pushed out social media content featuring team selections and competitive banter
• Targeted ticket offers to fans who selected specific games

3. Fan Education Strategy

• Explainer videos breaking down the concept
• Offensive/defensive rating content and graphics to inform predictions
• A dedicated feature episode on the “NBL Overtime” podcast explaining the competition, its mechanics and team strategies

4. Broadcast  rewards

• 7 additional “Watch & Win” mini competitions tied to specific games
• During the broadcast, a “code word” and a QR code were displayed, where fans could scan, enter the code, and put their name in for a chance to win a smaller prize

5. Live Winner Reveal

• When five fans correctly predicted both the winning team (Cairns Taipans) and exact score, the league didn’t just announce the winner via a press release; instead, they integrated the reveal into their MVP Awards ceremony
• The five finalists joined a live Zoom call during the NBL's MVP award broadcast (pictured below), where they shared their background and connection to the league
• The winner was selected via a live random draw, then interviewed on his reaction to winning $100,000
• Fans could see that the winner was a real person with a real story, not some faceless entity, proving the legitimacy of the win while creating additional content and engagement around the conclusion

The 5 finalists in the MVP award's broadcast 

Why it worked strategically 

The Summer Shootout was a hefty initiative and investment by the league, but executed, it did the following:

• Turned a weakness into a strength: What could be seen as "nothing games" were given compelling storylines. Away games turned into must-see events with higher stakes
  
• Embraced rivalry and controversy: Teams could publicly trash-talk their opponents’ defences
• Created an “underdog” narrative: All clubs were on equal footing to win the $50,000 prize. Even last-place teams had interesting storylines
• Extended Engagement: The campaign ran for 2 months over a lull in season engagement; it wasn’t just a weekend event or band-aid fix for low viewership

The Technical Magic: Working with Tradable Bits

The fan experience was built on a customized Tradable Bits survey campaign with smart conditional logic. Fans would pick their team, and then the number of points they believed their selected team would win.

• 1 major Summer Shootout prediction campaign
• 7 “Watch & Win” campaigns tied to specific games
• QR code integration for broadcast moments & traffic attribution
• Validation fields for in-game code words
• Unified fan profiles and insight-layering with the NBL’s fan database
• Marketable Leads for in-season games and future season targeting

The Results: 188% engagement growth 

1. Participation explosion

• 18,000+ fans entered and participated (plus many more views and impressions)
• 56% of fans were entirely new marketable leads  to the Tradable Bits Platform
• 73% opted in to ongoing communications from the NBL

2. Engagement Metrics

• Saw a 188% increase in engagement compared to the same time the previous year
  
• The view-to-entry rate improved from 9% in the first week it launched to 20% as the campaign progressed 
• Increased viewership for Summer Shootout games, creating unexpected engagement around games that might have otherwise been overlooked

3. Cultural Impact

• Cairns Taipans' story (last place for the final 3/4 of the season) became a fan-favourite after winning the   $50K prize
• Social media buzz sustained for 3+ months
• Created anticipation for future seasons

Thoughts from the team

"January is one of the most crowded months on the Australian sporting calendar. The Summer Shootout was a layered campaign designed to connect with the breadth of our entire audience across the period, from die-hard superfans to first-time viewers. Our goal was to spark conversation online, in the group chat, and around the dinner table. The fabricated tension built with every game, and suddenly, every opinion mattered, every moment mattered – right down to the final Summer Shootout match." ~ Hayleigh Dickison (Digital Marketing Lead)

"The Summer Shootout was a powerful engagement tool for the NBL, keeping fans connected through December and into a crowded January sports calendar. The dynamicity of Tradable Bits allowed us to produce multiple engagement solutions. With team tracking and ‘Watch & Win’ incentives, fans had ongoing reasons to tune in and stay involved, even after their selected team dropped out of the $100K race." ~ Jaret O'Neill (Marketing Coordinator)

Scaling this strategy for your league

The Summer Shootout was a successful strategy because it understood a fundamental truth about modern sports marketing: Fans don't want to just watch - they want to participate.

1.  Identify your "dead zone." Every league has a period where attention wanes. Map yours out and identify what you can plan for it.
2. Embrace your disadvantages. The NBL turned away games into must-watch events
   
3. Create some skill-based engagement.  The campaign was so compelling because it wasn't a random draw - it required basketball knowledge and strategy.
4. Integrate across all touchpoints.  Broadcast, digital, social, in-venue, and more - reinforce the narrative across all your channels.

Final Thoughts: engagement that pays

The NBL Summer Shootout is a masterclass in turning seasonal weakness into strategic strength. By combining high-stakes prizes with compelling league-level narratives, skill-based participation and multi-channel amplification, they created an experience that felt like a natural extension of the game itself. For other sports leagues, the NBL’s approach offers a blueprint for how to build lasting connections while rewarding fans for their passion and knowledge.

 If you're looking for more stories like these, sign up for What's Kraken,  our monthly newsletter on Fan Marketing tips, tactics and best practices.