With NFL deal, Twitter live-streams ambitions
Facebook, for example, had set tough terms, under which the social network wanted to sell all the ads that would air during the football games, essentially cutting out the sales relationship between the NFL and marketers, according to two people who asked for anonymity because the discussions were private.
“Having that live programming every night when sports are playing — with no paywall, no logging in and directly from the source — that’s key to us,” said Anthony Noto, chief financial officer for Twitter and formerly for the NFL, who helped forge the streaming deal.
Since April, Twitter has signed a series of live-streaming deals, including with Wimbledon, CBS News, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Pac-12 Networks.
If streaming football or basketball games on Twitter’s mobile apps and on desktop computers, along with other platforms, draws viewers, the company could sell more video ads, which typically command a premium.
Twitter has directed Noto, a former Goldman Sachs banker with deep ties to the sports media industry, to lead the charge on live streaming and has assigned an engineering team to create its streaming video player.
To bolster the effort, Twitter is in talks with Apple to bring the Twitter app to Apple TV, which would potentially let millions of Apple TV users watch the streaming NFL games, according to the two people briefed on the discussions.
For years, Twitter forged relationships with networks and content owners through a program known as Amplify, in which Twitter worked with TV programmers to distribute short video clips that were preceded by ads sold by both Twitter and the content owners.