It was only three months ago that Twitter surprised everyone by beating out companies like Amazon and Verizon for streaming rights to ten of the sixteen NFL Thursday night games. And in order to get a little practice in before the season starts, Twitter was streaming Wimbledon this weekend as their first sports live stream broadcast.
“Twitter is increasingly a place where people can find live streaming video, and that includes exciting sporting events like Wimbledon. This live stream is an extremely early and incomplete test experience, and we’ll be making lots of improvements before we launch it in its final form,” said a Twitter spokesperson.
So what is Twitter’s next move?
The social media giant is currently talking with the NBA, Major League Soccer and cable television company Turner about obtaining the rights to digitally stream more live sports and events. Turner already has the rights to the NBA, MLB, and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. In addition, Turner has its own eSports league called E-League, which could be huge for a platform like Twitter.
Since anyone is able to sign up and get a Twitter account for free, you may be asking how exactly they are going to make money through these streams.
One word: Advertising.
It has been reported that Twitter is aiming to receive at least $50 million in ads through ad packages that will range between $2 million to $8 million. They’ve already locked in deals with companies like Bank of America, Sony Pictures, Nestle’s DiGiorno, and Bud Light so it seems like they won’t have too many issues hitting the goal.
Twitter received the right to the ten NFL games for only $10 million while FOX and CBS are broadcasting five games each at the cost of $45 million per game (a combined $450 million). So based on those figures, Twitter landed a very intriguing deal from a business standpoint and is clearly making an effort to explore gaining potential revenue from streaming live sports.