- YouTube has joined Twitch as a streaming partner for the NBA 2K League, and will broadcast regular season, playoffs, and finals games in 2019.
- Twitch was the lone official streaming partner for the league’s 2018 debut season.
- The NBA 2K League joins a growing list of leagues that no longer exclusively broadcast via a single streaming platform.
YouTube will livestream the rest of this season’s NBA 2K 
League games, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced last week, as the platform joins Twitch as a streaming partner for the league.
Twitch was the exclusive broadcast partner for 2018’s debut NBA 2K League season, in what was announced as a multi-year deal that included custom screen overlays and audience engagement strategies.
The NBA 2K League is the latest major esports league to quit streaming exclusively via a single platform.
For the 2019 season, which began earlier this month, YouTube will also stream the entire season on its platform, including more than 230 regular-season games as well as playoffs and finals games. The 2019 NBA 2K League season concludes on August 3.
As noted by SportsPro, the companies have a long-running relationship, as the NBA was the first traditional sports league to partner with YouTube in 2005. Additionally, YouTube TV was a presenting partner of both the NBA Finals and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Finals in 2018.
The NBA 2K League is the latest major esports league to quit streaming exclusively via a single platform. In February, ESL’s continuing broadcast deal with Facebook removed exclusivity for English and Portuguese streams of ESL One and ESL Pro League events, and in March, FACEIT’s Esports Championship Series (ECS) Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league added Twitch streams after four seasons of YouTube exclusivity.
Related Article: Psyonix on ELEAGUE on How New Deal Can Elevate Rocket League Esports
Psyonix’s Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) also added YouTube streams for Season 7, which began earlier this month. The RLCS had previously streamed exclusively via Twitch, which co-created the league and operated it for the first four seasons before Psyonix brought operations in-house. Twitch continued to handle the league’s ad sales and partnerships until this season, when Psyonix partnered with ELEAGUE for those duties.
Currently, Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League deal with Twitch is the highest-profile example of an ongoing exclusive streaming partnership.
