Twitter triumphs in bid to stream NFL games amid stiff competition
Twitter has reportedly won out in the bid to stream this year's season of the National Football League's games beside other contenders, Facebook, Verizon, and Amazon. The NFL announced its decision on April 4 that it will be partnering with the social networking service which shall livestream 10 games of the 2016 season for "Thursday Night Football."
On E-Commerce Times, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, "Twitter is where live events unfold and is the right partner for the NFL as we take the latest step in serving fans around the world live NFL Football."
The social network submitted the lowest bid for its first broadcast deal, paying lesser than what the other bidders offered, which was less than $10 million. And though the figure may appear a tad small in view of the $20 million paid by Yahoo last year to stream just one game, the latter's contract had been an exclusive one.
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But, this year, while Twitter's partnership will allow it to stream the games free to its millions of users via mobile gadgets, Twitter-enabled small screens, and personal computers, the livestreams will be accompanied by simultaneous broadcasts on television via CBS and NBC (Comcast Corp.), as well as NFL Network. According to their agreement, CBS and NFL Network will broadcast the first half of the season while NBC and NFL Network will cover the second half.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO, also told E-Commerce Times, "This is about transforming the fan experience with football." He continued, "People watch NFL games with Twitter today. Now they'll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights."
In the long run, the move may eventually be bankable in the part of Twitter which has been putting up with slow user growth for some time, although it also puts itself under great pressure to deliver on the livestreaming aspect to 800 million users, making sure the streaming goes smoothly and without a hitch.
An analyst for Pund-IT, Charles King, commented on E-Commerce that to stream live video successfully takes a whole lot of work, "But the combination of live NFL action and Twitter could put a new spin on football that is every bit as dynamic as a properly thrown spiral pass."
The partnership between NFL and Twitter is not a new one. Since 2013, Twitter has worked with NFL to bring in-game highlights from the show as well as the player and team pre- and postgame Periscope feeds.
