Basketball Ireland scoop prize at 2023 Irish Sport Industry Awards

Basketball Ireland picked up the prize for ‘Best use of Communications Platform in Sport’ at the 2023 Irish Sport Industry Awards on Thursday night. It’s in recognition of its digital revolution, which has seen the launch of basketballireland.tv and the rollout of the NBN23 digital scoresheet in the last year. The ceremony, which was hosted by the Federation of Irish Sport at the Westin Hotel, also saw Basketball Ireland shortlisted for the NGB of the Year.

Over 650 games were broadcast live on basketballireland.tv during the 2022/23 season, with over 320,000 video plays on the OTT platform. More than 1100 games were digitised through the NBN23 In Game app, while basketball fans are now able to get live scores and game data on the Swish All-Hoops app, with more than 200,000 sessions on the app so far. 

Nathaniel Cope, Head of Communications, Media and Digital, said: “We’re delighted to be acknowledged with this prestigious award and I’d like to thank the judges and the Federation of Irish Sport. Basketball Ireland has digital at its core and Irish basketball fans have never been better served. The appetite for this digital content is clear to see, we have almost 9000 active users on the Swish All Hoops app, they’re extremely engaged too, consuming over 500 events on average in a season. Basketballireland.tv has had 56,000 visitors, with people watching from 87 countries worldwide. These new digital offerings couldn’t have been done without excellent partners, and I’d like to thank Joymo and NBN23 for their hard work in helping deliver them.” 

Robbie Fahy (Digital Media Manager), Nathaniel Cope (Head of Communications, Media and Digital) and John Feehan (Basketball Ireland CEO) accepting the award. 

Basketball Ireland CEO, John Feehan, added: “We have had a massive digital evolution in the last year thanks to basketballireland.tv and the Swish All Hoops app, our 'Helpside' Learning Management System and also building a new consumer database. We’ve had buy-in from everyone involved the sport and I’d like to thank clubs, officials and volunteers who’ve been crucial in enabling us to stream our games and capture them through the NBN23 In Game digital scoresheet. I’d like to praise the Basketball Ireland staff who’ve been working tirelessly to help grow the game, we have ambitious plans and this award is a further illustration of Basketball Ireland’s upward trajectory.”