Written by Hunter Terrell, Staff Writer
The National Football League (NFL) made an exclusive deal with Twitter with intentions of providing a live stream of Thursday Night Football games to a global-wide audience.
The 2016 NFL Regular Season, a total of 10 games, will be streamed completing the league’s “Tri-Cast” distribution model of broadcast (NBC/CBS), cable (NFL Network), and now digital platform (Twitter).
Partners since 2013,this new deal will allow free, live streaming video to over 800 Million registered and non-registered users on the Twitter platform via cell phones, tablets, computers, and connected television. The partnership also includes in-game highlights as well as pre-game broadcasts from the teams, giving fans an interpersonal experience before, during, and after the games.
Junior, Kelsey Townsend finds this new option for watching football “innovative and well-rounded.”
“I think it’s interesting that the NFL is making this adaption for their fans. This is opening a new gateway for audience and maybe even expanding the audience. The tech-savvy generation is really going to like this.”
Twitter, based in San Francisco, wanted the Thursday night games because of their popularity. Each game drew an average of 13 million viewers during the 2015 season.
This deal cost Twitter an estimated $10 million to stream all 10 games and to promote minimal, exclusive advertisements.
With Twitter increasing their live-streaming efforts, so are many of their rivals. Snapchat and Facebook are working on deals with media companies to obtain live-streaming rights to sporting events and entertainment. Instagram is also interested in experimenting with live products.
All of the companies are competing for video advertising dollars, as marketers have slowly begun to shift money to online promotions and away from television advertisements.
The streaming schedule is as followed:
Week 2, Sept. 15: New York Jets at Buffalo Bills
Week 3, Sept. 22: Houston Texans at New England Patriots
Week 5, Oct. 6: Arizona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers
Week 6, Oct. 13: Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers
Week 7, Oct. 20: Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers
Week 11, Nov. 17: New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers
Week 13, Dec. 1: Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings
Week 14, Dec. 8: Oakland Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs
Week 15, Dec. 15: Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks
Week 16, Dec. 22: New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles