After long rumored interest in the NFL’s digital rights, it has finally become official; Twitter has won the digital streaming rights for NFL games during the 2016 season. Twitter will stream the 10 Thursday Night Football games this year that are aired by NBC and CBS, and will also be simulcasted on the NFL Network to setup a distribution model of broadcast (NBC/CBS), cable (NFL Network), and digital (Twitter).
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The NFL had long been in negotiations with a host of digital companies including Facebook, Amazon, Verizon and Google about digital streaming rights to games after the league partnered with Yahoo! to deliver a live stream of a Buffalo Bills vs. Jacksonville Jaguars game in London last season. This represented the first time users could access an NFL game digitally, without any authentication.
“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”, said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “There is a massive amount of NFL-related conversation happening on Twitter during our games and tapping into that audience, in addition to our viewers on broadcast and cable, will ensure Thursday Night Football is seen on an unprecedented number of platforms this season. This agreement also provides additional reach for those brands advertising with our broadcast partners.”
This fall Thursday Night Football will be streamed live @twitter so fans will see more of this. https://t.co/s6tbr9FjvY
— Roger Goodell (@nflcommish) April 5, 2016
The league also highlighted that in addition to live streaming video of NFL action, this Twitter partnership includes in-game highlights from Thursday Night Football games as well as pre-game Periscope broadcasts from players and teams.
The partnership will also provide free, live streaming video of the Thursday Night Football games without the need for authentication and will work on all Twitter platforms including mobile phones, tablets, PCs and connected TVs.
Twitter’s winning these streaming rights shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. Live sports content has continued to increase in value and has changed the way major networks produce their traditional evening highlight shows as a result.
One of the interesting aspects of the deal is the relatively low price:
Twitter paid less than $10 million for entire 10 game NFL Thursday package – @Recode https://t.co/Acu3Zy3sWi
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 5, 2016
“This is about transforming the fan experience with football. People watch NFL games with Twitter today,” said Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO. “Now they’ll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights.”
Fans will now be able to not only use Twitter as a second screen, but as a first-screen with enhancements including the in-game conversation and Periscope videos pre and post game as a bonus.
“Twitter is the live media platform of the Internet, and sports makes up approximately 50 percent of all conversation on Twitter,” said Jason Stein, CEO of Laundry Service, a social media marketing firm specializing in content creation and distribution. “This is a smart, natural fit and a very worthwhile experiment for Twitter. By distributing this live content, which fuels conversation and engagement on the platform, Twitter is adding great value to users and very exciting advertising opportunities.”