Twitter unveiled its upcoming live streaming and video initiatives Monday night as part of its NewFronts presentation for advertising executives and marketers across sports, entertainment and other industries.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver joined former Duke men’s basketball standout Jay Williams on stage to discuss the power of Twitter, which the NBA entered into an official partnership with “about five years ago” according to Silver.
When asked by Williams about how #NBATwitter has changed the game, Silver responded with, “There’s nothing more live and in the moment, I think, than sports.”
“The NBA in particular is a highlights-based business,” added Silver, who also broke news Monday night of Twitter’s new three-year live streaming partnership with the WNBA. “There’s so much action. People want to talk about it and react in the moment to it. We have a very young audience. People try to replicate that in-arena experience when they’re not there. They want to build a community. I find that I do the same thing when I watch games. When you watch something you think, ‘How’s the NBA community and all of the people you’re following reacting to what you just saw.’
“You get that instant feedback on Twitter.”
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Silver added that Twitter — which currently streams two NBA-centric shows — is where fans can get that “instantaneous reaction” that they’re looking for following a big dunk, questionable call or to gain a sense of what’s happening on the periphery of the court, too.
“(Twitter is) a great complement to our partners at ESPN and Turner. It provides a whole other way of getting into the game,” said Silver, who also added that 90 percent of the league’s current players are active users of the 11-year-old social platform.
Following Silver, Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Karl-Anthony Towns also commented that with Twitter, he can easily respond back to his fans in real-time.
“It’s a clean interface to use,” Towns said of Twitter, “and I get to answer some questions from them that are on their mind. Also, it’s great for timing-wise. We’re always on the road, so it allows me to have that time and convenience to reply quickly back.”