The National Basketball Association is making a big play to include at-home fans in the team experience with the launch of the NBA Fit application and 360 video on Twitter. 

Fans on Twitter at home will be able to experience the NBA Finals through a 360-degree video experience in which viewers can see an all-encompassing view of the stadium recorded during gameplay but not shared live. The NBA also launched its NBA Fit app this week, in which users can complete various fitness challenges to win prizes. 

?The NBA and sports are an emotional experience that you follow along with in person at the event or by way of video,? said Dimitry Loffe, CEO and founder of TVGla. ?360 continues to enhance that emotional experience for all users during or as extra content after the event.

?The level of control the consumer has with the NBA's 360 viewing of the finals ups the 'game' for what is already an emotionally charged event,? he said. 

Users can join challenges listed underneath the tab of the same name by selecting ones of interest. The challenges will provide a series of workouts the user must complete within a certain time frame. 

The app keeps track of the number of workouts completed by the user, as well as the length of time and number of days left in the challenge. NBA Fit will rank the best users within the challenges based on their time scores. 

Twitter users at home are now able to view finals games through a 360-view, starting with Thursday night?s first game. On the NBA?s official account, users can select clips shared on the account and view the 360 videos on an outside site. 

The National Basketball Association also leveraged Facebook's live streaming feature, creating a direct connection between players and fans through Q&As and exclusive content (see more).

The National Basketball Association leaned into the pervasiveness of YouTube and mobile video with a new channel that featured fan-generated content for all-things basketball related, an attempt to appeal to millennials with an organic content experience (see more). 

?The NBA/sports in general continues to grow both its branded experience and the emotion of its events by adding more innovation to how their consumers can engage with their content,? Mr. Loffe said. ?The NBAs Samsung partnership for the 360 video is exclusive in its viewing location, so the NBA can promote and control the viewership eyeballs to its preferred platform, location of choice.?