Twitter scored yet another ad win this week by partnering with the National Football League to show instant replays via promoted tweets.
After taking its multi-screen targeted advertising approach to brands airing TV ads, Twitter is going after TV networks themselves. The partnership is the latest of several Twitter has made with television networks and sports leagues, including Viacom, Fox, Major League Baseball, and CBS. The move is also sure to give the company’s revenue portfolio a big boost ahead of its planned IPO.
Using its Amplify service, Twitter will enable television programmers to send out video clips that include ads at the beginning of the videos, with ad revenues being shared by both Twitter and the networks. In the NFL’s case, the clips tweeted out will be instant replay footage of plays during the game. This allows Twitter to be used as an ad tool, and not a competing screen for television programmers.
“The NFL brand is more than just the premiere sports league in the world, it is creating content that is extremely popular and widely consumed,” said Adam Bain, President of Global Revenue for Twitter. “This partnership brings the best of the NFL to fans on our platform, and allows them to connect and share around their passion for football. The NFL has always been at the forefront of media innovation and this is the next step in that evolution. Having access to this type of highly coveted content on Twitter will not only offer our users a unique programming schedule which will deepen their engagement with our platform but will also provide our sponsors with a value proposition that few other partners can bring to the table.”
The NFL was equally enthusiastic:
“Partnering with Twitter provides the NFL with a unique vehicle to reach millions of highly engaged fans in an environment which will allow trusted partners and sponsors to align with our brand,” said Brian Rolapp, Chief Operating Officer for NFL Media. “With consumption habits shifting to mobile devices and companion experiences alongside broadcasts of our games, this partnership will provide us an additional channel to reach those users which is completely complementary to our flagship mobile product, NFL Mobile from Verizon.”
However, the NFL will only show the clips during the game on Thursday nights, when it airs games on its own NFL Network. On days when other networks such as FOx, NBC and ESPN have rights to the game, the clips will go out after it has ended.
