Twitter wants to be taken seriously as a major player in sports. The social media site announced new content collaborations on Monday with a number of leagues and sports media companies, headlined by ESPN through an elaborate content and revenue-sharing partnership with The Walt Disney Company.
Twitter and Disney said they plan to work closely to co-create live Twitter shows and share advertising-related revenues. That will include a number of brands within the Disney portfolio in addition to ESPN.
To start, Twitter announced SportsCenter Live, a Twitter version of the network’s flagship news show. SportsCenter Live (@SCLive) will be streamed through Twitter Moments, the social network’s format for longer-form multimedia content. Separately, ESPN’s fantasy sports podcast, Fantasy Focus Live, will be livestreamed daily and its hosts will interact with Twitter users.
#SCLIVE is LIVE
Sign up for notifications to get premium curation of the best news and insights around the sports stories everyone is talking about! pic.twitter.com/We5FfELodR
— SportsCenter Live (@SCLive) April 30, 2018
Twitter’s new digital content partnerships, unveiled at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s weeklong pitchfest in New York City that connects media companies with advertisers, span traditional sports with a slate of exclusive shows and streamed programming from ESPN, Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, Formula 1, The Players’ Tribune, Bleacher Report and Barstool Sports. In total, Twitter said it has inked more than 30 new digital content partnerships and renewals across entertainment, news, sports and gaming, which is more than double the amount it announced at the same event last year.
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Also new to Twitter this year will be exclusive content from Formula 1 and Barstool Sports. F1 plans to produce a live post-race show exclusively on Twitter and hosted by broadcaster Will Buxton. It is expected to feature highlights, analysis and interviews, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix on May 13 and continuing another nine rounds through the 2018 Championship.
Barstool will host an exclusive eight-episode series exclusively on Twitter called “Barstool Live.” The 30-minute shows are expected to feature live, original content from top sporting events across the country with the hosts of Pardon My Take plus former NFL All-Pro Pat McAfee.
Bleacher Report will bring its popular Instagram-focused House of Highlights brand to Twitter through a show called House of Highlights LIVE that will be hosted by Omar Raja and feature celebrities and athletes chatting about the most entertaining moments on and off the field. This will be an expansion of the House of Highlights YouTube channel Bleacher Report launched in January.
Together with @barstoolsports, we’re bringing you a Twitter-only monthly sports show called Barstool Live, featuring the hosts of Pardon My Take, plus former @NFL All-Pro Pat McAfee. #NewFronts
— Twitter Sports (@TwitterSports) April 30, 2018
Twitter added new shows through its league partnerships with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer as well. In addition to the MLB game streams, the league plans to livestream a new show on Twitter around the MLB All-Star Game and Postseason. Along with the MLS live-streamed matches, highlights and halftime shows announced in March when the soccer league and Twitter inked a three-year content deal, Twitter said Monday it will also host the 2018 MLS Homegrown Game, a showcase of top MLS academy talent, and a live halftime show during the 2018 MLS All-Star festivities.
The Players’ Tribune relaunched its exclusive Twitter show #Verified for the second season, which has featured top draft prospects from both the NFL and NBA sharing their reactions to topics on and off the field while answering fan-submitted questions.
SportTechie Takeaway
Twitter may have lost out to Amazon for the the NFL’s Thursday Night Football streaming rights two years ago, but the company continues to add to its sports content in other areas. Twitter’s partnership with The Walt Disney Company is particularly noteworthy because in addition to Sports Center LIVE, the two have agreed to co-create live shows for Twitter and adopt a revenue-sharing model.
“Now more than ever, social platforms are putting a major focus on and investment in sports-related content,” said Travis Howe, ESPN’s senior vice president of platform ad sales strategy and global operations, in a statement. “It is the new primary vehicle driving digital experiences to grow and engage audiences. The insights to be gained will be invaluable as we continue to serve the right content and the right ads to the right people.”
The more robust content-creation capabilities give Twitter an in with a major media conglomerate that has been expanding its own digital sports streaming capabilities. Disney launched its premium streaming service ESPN+ last month, which is now also available as a premium channel on Roku. Disney is a part owner of Hulu, which has made a big push into sports streaming through its $39.99 monthly TV service and partnerships with the NHL, Olympics and NBA through TNT. Disney has proposed buying 21st Century Fox, Hulu’s other part-owner and leading sports broadcaster, for $52.4 billion.