Šarūnas Mazalas, Chairman of the Hybrid Sports League which runs Twain Sport, considers that quick and engaging content that captures someone’s attention in the space of a minute has become a trend in our days. In 2022 his company launched T-Basket – head-to-head basketball tournaments every hour, with a match every three minutes.
In the SBC podcast, Mazalas pointed out that this product has its own place within mainstream betting offerings.
“Our main partner is BetGames. They are working with a lot of betting operators, and the feedback that we have been receiving has been extremely positive.
“Our newly created game, T-Basket, is a quick version of traditional basketball. A full tournament only lasts one hour. That quick tournament format is amazing because there are new betting opportunities every three minutes. It is quite literally right here, right now”.
He added that T-Basket follows the same formats that we’re seeing on social media sites such as Instagram or TikTok. Thus, it’s meeting that demand for both quick content and entertainment.
Mazalas brought attention to the NBA’s new subscription model, which aimed to meet the needs of fans who are often unable to devote the time to watch an hour-long game.
The game viewership numbers also played a significant role in determining the pace of T-Basket content. “The NBA saw the number of viewers and the number of subscribers begin to go down. So a few years ago, what they did was offer 10-minute NBA League Pass Subscriptions, or offer them only the last quarter to watch.
“The second example would probably be a mini-series. These have become the most popular TV show format in the US; they don’t require a long-term commitment from the viewer. This is happening because millennials no longer watch a full sports game or a long-running TV series.”
Mazalas highlighted that in response to these trends, they created a faster, quicker sports format. He believes that resonates with the exact demand from younger generations.
The chairman recalled that everything started with basketball because it is considered to be sports number one in his home country Lithuania. “Lithuanians are mad about basketball like England loves football.”
“We started with basketball but we understand this is not the number one sport in Europe or in the world. We’ve got the rest of Europe and the world in mind for our next game and it’s gonna be called T-Kick.
“It is going to be quite similar to T-Basket. It’s going to be head-to-head action over the space of 60 seconds. In the game, there will be two goals and the player that scores the most points will win. And, like T-Basket, the tournament format will take place over the course of one hour.
“We believe that this will be a perfect complementary product to T-Basket. It provides a short form, live-action with instant results.”
Mazalas added that this new game can help fill a gap during the breaks in football fixtures on a weekend. “So in those breaks, I can switch to another tab on my phone and see that there is another tournament for a hybrid game, whether that be T-Kick or T-Basket. It works perfectly for that hour break. I can watch the games or I could even have a bet. It’s great because it’s quick, fast content. It’s real and it’s meeting that demand for new content.”
Don’t forget to subscribe to our Telegram-channel!
