CLEVELAND — We are in the midst of the NBA Finals, and if you did not know, you must be living under a rock.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors are preparing for Game 4 of the Finals on Friday. Besides the fact that the Warriors are up 3-0 and going for a series sweep, there is something else you should keep your eye on.
Or in this case, ears.
TuneIn, a Bay Area-based audio streaming content company that has been around since 2002, announced a deal with the NBA in March 2016 and has provided live play-by-play feeds from every NBA team, as well as insight from multiple analysts and popular shows during the 24/7 network broadcast.
In order to bring another unique experience to fans, NBA on TuneIn LIVE has been on the road during the Finals stopping first at Oracle Arena, home of the Warriors, and this week at Wahlburgers in Cleveland.
TuneIn’s two original NBA shows, Two-Man Weave featuring actor Michael Rapaport and former NBA player Kenyon Martin drops every Wednesday from 5-7 p.m. ET and is immediately followed by the NBA on TuneIn LIVE with analysts Caron Butler, Rex Chapman and hosts Mike Yam (Oakland) and Jason Pugh (Cleveland).
Anticipation hung on every ticking second leading up to game time, and TuneIn capitalized.
A booth was set up on the back patio of Wahlburgers and would best be described as any sports fan’s “man cave” with the whole gang there talking basketball. Two-Man Weave has climbed the rankings of sports podcasts. With TuneIn’s 60 million+ monthly active users, this number will only climb higher.
With sports specifically, bringing in former athletes is the direction the company wants to go. It is about being knowledgeable, but also about entertaining, mixing personalities of not just former athletes, but comedians, other well-known individuals in their field and building on that idea.
“When I was first approached about the show I was confused how it would come together,” said Andrew Bock, Director of Content Operations at TuneIn. “But then you see it, and you see the chemistry and it just works.”
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Bock was especially adamant in conveying another message.
TuneIn wants to accomplish one purpose — cutting out the days of the old, one idea, one point, this is the only path to focus on and conform to the new age. Give the users what they want, the ability to choose.
“It’s like an airport terminal,” Bock said. “You have terminals coming in and out, and they create this weave that is all interchangeable and allows you to go seamlessly from place to place.”
And that is exactly how the company is set up. With every podcast or channel, hosts and analysis take a moment to plug a different area of TuneIn that could lead another listener to another channel. Essentially, here is your open field and a machete. You can see it all, now pick your path and cut out the parts you do not want in your way.
For example, combining the guys from the Two-Man Weave set with world renowned astrophysicist and author, Neil deGrasse Tyson to talk about the ideas of “Slam Dunk Science” on the website StarTalk, which TuneIn works extremely close with. Another out of the box idea that some may not think could work and ends up being an interesting twist on basketball, a game that many people have participated in.
TuneIn Premium allows subscribers to listen to the NBA, NFL, MLB, more than 40,000 audiobooks and commercial-free music stations. Recently, the company announced the ability to download those audiobooks for offline usage, something the public is excited for according to Bock.
As for the future, Bock is just enjoying the ride.
“The best thing about this show is it is real,” said Bock. “They choose the direction. And at the end of the day its just a bunch of guys getting together to talk about sports or whatever it may be.”
With podcasting and audio platforms rising fast, TuneIn has a spot in this carpool toward the future of entertainment across multiple genres.