Today at our first-ever Digital Content NewFronts, we’re thrilled to announce 16 live streaming content deals across sports, news and entertainment, which will bring hundreds of hours of new premium video content to Twitter.
Today’s announcements include new exclusive original live programming, live games and events, live syndications, extensions of existing live deals, and new always-on live streaming content onto the platform. This presents new opportunities for brands to reach passionate and engaged audiences by sponsoring premium video content at scale.
Here’s a snapshot of the 11 global live streaming content deals announced today:
Sports
· WNBA:The WNBA will live stream 20 regular-season games per year on Twitter in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
· MLBAM: In addition to weekly live MLB games that stream on Twitter this season, a new 3-hour once weekly MLB program will live stream exclusively on Twitter.
· The Players’ Tribune: #Verified, a new live show, exclusively on Twitter, featuring a modern forum for athletes to connect directly with fans
· PGA TOUR: The PGA TOUR will live stream 360 video of the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass during THE PLAYERS Championship
News
· Bloomberg Media: Bloomberg will debut the first-ever 24/7 breaking news network that will be global, live, social and exclusively on Twitter.
· The Verge: Coming this fall, Circuit Breaker: The Verge’s Gadget Show is a weekly live program that will review and experiment with the hottest gadgets everyone wants
· BuzzFeed News: MorningFeed, a brand new morning news and current events show broadcast live on Twitter by BuzzFeed, will reach an audience that wakes up hungry for the latest in “fire Tweets.”
· Cheddar: Cheddar’s Opening Bell is now streaming live daily at 9am ET from the New York Stock Exchange, bringing the day’s finance, tech and business news to viewers
Entertainment
· Live Nation: Live Nation will deliver select Live Nation concerts and original content exclusively on Twitter.
· IMG Fashion: IMG Fashion will bring exclusive runway shows and behind-the-scenes Fashion Week content for Twitter users, live, from New York, Milan, Paris, London and beyond
· Propagate: #WhatsHappening is a new live daily, entertainment-driven, primetime show on everything in the world that embraces Twitter’s unique conversation.
Growing premium video on Twitter
People have always come to Twitter to see and talk about what’s happening. Over the last four years, we’ve brought users video content around the things they’re already discussing on the platform, working with the world’s top TV networks, sports leagues, publishing houses & magazines, and professional news outlets. In 2016, we started building on this to bring live streaming video to Twitter to create a one-screen experience for great live content and the conversation around it. Brands align with all of this content to reach engaged audiences at scale.
Our live video and Amplify business now work hand-in-hand as we’ve grown our premium video business to more than 200 premium video publishers across the most active segments on Twitter — from sports and esports, to news, creators and entertainment. And we couldn’t be more excited about the success we’re seeing. In fact, in Q1 this year, our second quarter since launching live video on Twitter, we delivered over 800 hours of live streaming premium video content across more than 450 events, driving an audience of 45 million unique viewers. And this audience is global, mobile, and influential, with 55% of our logged-in live viewers being under the age of 25.
We’re just getting started
Twitter is what’s happening and this makes it a unique and powerful platform for premium video content that people watch and discuss in real time. With these new content offerings, we’re helping people enjoy more great video content, helping publishers drive more revenue, and helping brands align with the best mobile video content, all at massive and accelerating scale. If you’re a brand, there’s no better time to reach and engage your audience through premium video content.