Broadening the terms of previous deals struck during 2013 and 2014, the National Football League and social media giant Twitter have entered into a two-year partnership that will make more multimedia content available to roughly 300 million Twitter users. Details of the deal indicate that the NFL will triple the volume of photographs and in-game highlights that are distributed on the social network.
That covers highlights from the start of the NFL pre-season all the way through Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016. Besides video of the most exciting plays during games, NFL’s social media team will be publishing infographics as well as overall game recaps specifically developed for the Twitter audience. Of course, the NFL also has agreements with social networks like Facebook and online video distribution networks like YouTube, thus it’s likely similar content will be available outside of Twitter.
While Twitter representatives declined to comment, it’s highly likely that NFL content will be integrated heavily into Twitter’s “Project Lightning.” Demoed to Buzzfeed during June 2015, the new format will package content from ongoing real-time events into a new design for users. This content will be hand-selected by a team of editors within Twitter and attempt to provide more comprehensive coverage of events like award shows, sporting events and important stories trending in the news.
The NFL didn’t indicate if video platforms like Vine or Periscope will be utilized to publish content on Twitter. Hypothetically, Vine would be ideal for capturing plays that are likely to be retweeted heavily during a game and Periscope could offer a unique live-streaming angle from the sidelines while a game is ongoing. Of course, the use of Periscope would likely be limited to members of the NFL’s social media team. The NFL started cracking down on teams using Periscope to live-stream practices or other team related events earlier this year.
